We invite you to participate in ISTR's 9th International Conference to exchange ideas and research findings about Civil Society and the Third Sector. The conference is being hosted by the Third Sector Foundation of Turkey (TUSEV) and Kadir Has University.

The theme of the conference is Facing Crises: Challenges and Opportunities Confronting the Third Sector and Civil Society.

Without question the role of civil society has expanded in many countries throughout the world over the past several decades.  Whether in more open or more authoritarian environments, the third sector is playing an important role in providing social services, contributing to policy development, advocating for the rights of poor and oppressed people and for women's rights, contributing to livelihoods and reduction of poverty when the state and market cannot or will not do so, making international aid more effective, growing social capital, contributing to social enterprise and social entrepreneurship, and in many other ways.

Yet there are also significant and growing challenges to the role of civil society as well - challenges posed by the economic and financial crisis that has spread across the world since early 2008, particularly for the poor and for women; ongoing global and local environmental crises; major wars, international and internal, and the related refugee crises; public health issues; global climate change; and many others. These new challenges exist alongside attempts to limit third sector organizations to largely charitable work and service delivery; tightening of legal and political controls on third sector organizations; physical threats to NGO workers, intellectuals, and others; cuts in funding and donations; viewing the third sector as an adjunct and conduit for terrorism and the resulting limitations on transnational philanthropy; the broader concerns for accountability and democracy in the third sector; and many other issues.

At the same time, opportunities exist in the climate of change in citizen participation around the world, innovative ideas for philanthropy, for volunteering and for giving, and what we know and what we are still far from understanding: the role of foundations, and grant-making, the role of governments and the fine line of citizen/government participation, the role of the market and corporations and what social responsibility means for all sides.

Leading questions to be addressed at the conference include:

• What challenges and opportunities are the third sector and civil society facing at the end of the  first decade of the new millennium?
• How robust are our existing understandings and explanations of the third sector and civil society?
• What new understandings and explanations are emerging?
• What do the old and new offer as ways forward to meet these challenges and opportunities?

Sub-themes of the Istanbul conference are:

The impact of:
the current economic and financial crisis;
environmental crises;
poverty, health, education and other social crises; and
conflict, crises of hope and human displacement.

Challenges and opportunities for
philanthropy, volunteering, corporate social responsibility and social capital;
the post-welfare state, liberalization, neo-liberal policies, and social contracting;
management, governance, evaluation, accountability and democracy;
government regulation, counter-terrorism, and related constraints;
social entrepreneurship and social enterprise;
social economy and solidarity-based economy; and
global civil society, South-North co-operation and development assistance.

After two decades of unprecedented growth in and recognition of the third sector and civil society, the 2010 ISTR International Conference will take stock of the challenges and opportunities facing the third sector and civil society. 

ISTR's Ninth International Conference in Istanbul, Turkey offers an excellent opportunity for discussing these and related questions in an academic environment of theoretical and empirical rigor and creativity.  It is our hope that this conference theme will inspire stimulating debate and discussion, and create exciting collaborations. We look forward to this global gathering of colleagues for a dynamic academic, networking, and social experience.

Conference Homepage