"The Third Sector and Sustainable Social Change: New Frontiers for Research"
Universitat de Barcelona
Barcelona, Spain
July 9-12, 2008
ISTR Eighth International Conference and
2nd EMES-ISTR European Conference in partnership with CINEFOGO

Keynote and Plenary Sessions

Opening Plenary and Keynote Address

Víctor Pérez-Díaz will present the Keynote Address “The Voices of Civil Societies”

Today’s world of voluntary associations includes both civil and uncivil ones, with a gray zone in between, and the concepts of civil society and civility may be helpful for making the appropriate distinctions. At the same time, it’s worth noticing that civil associations do come in many forms, as shown in the nature of their performances and the contents of their voices. An argument is made here that civil associations tend to speak in fundamentally different voices according to the character of the social imagery they embrace. This makes for significant transitions from one voice to another, as well as for compromises and hybrids between them. At the same time, this pushes the debate on the good society to the very heart of the public sphere, just at a time when this debate tends to be sidelined both in the democratic process and in the experience of the markets.
 
Víctor Pérez-Díaz received his Ph.D. at  Harvard University. He is currently Professor of Sociology, Complutense University (Madrid) and Founding-Director of Analistas Socio-Políticos, ASP Research Center (Madrid).  He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences andFounder Member of the Academia Europaea.

He has been Visiting Professor of Political Science at Harvard University; MIT; University of California, San Diego; New York University; and Institut des Sciences Politiques.

He has been Fellow Member of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton; Visiting Research Professor at the Wissenschaftzentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung; and Member of the Committee on Western Europe, Social Science Research Council, New York

Professor Pérez-Díaz is the author of more than 30 books, including The Return of Civil Society (Harvard University Press, 1993); and Spain at the Crossroads (Harvard University Press, 1999; Italian version La lezione spagnola, Il Mulino, 2003).

Respondent: Adalbert Evers, Justus Liebig Universität, Germany and EMES European Research Network
(Coordinated by the EMES European Research Network)

Plenary – Global Civil Society and Democratic Cultures

The idea of global civil society is borne by, and a response to, globalization of the economic and political institutions. The role of global civil society institutions is, however, highly contested. Some argue that the globalization of civil society has been successful in relation to implementation of human rights, attention to ecological issues and in democratization of national societies. Others are more hesitated in their assessment of global civil society and see civil society institutions—global and national—as representatives of intolerance, fundamentalism, particularism and often strongly dominated by the Western NGOs and donor institutions. What are the limits of global civil society’s intervention in governance of national state-civil society relations? How to create a responsible and accountable political culture in global civil society institutions? Global civil society actors are mainly dominated by Western NGO’s – how to establish a representative democratic structure in global civic institutions?

Panelists: Jean Cohen, Columbia University, New York
Klaus Eder, Humbolt Universität, Berlin
Andrew Arato, New School University, New York
Neera Chandhoke, University of New Dehli, New Dehli

Moderator: Thomas P. Boje, CINEFOGO, Roskilde University, Denmark
(Coordinated by CINEFOGO)

Plenary – Theorizing the Global Third Sector: Does North/South Make Sense?
This plenary debate will address Third Sector theory from both historical and analytical approaches. What can we learn by focusing on “global” and “North-South” NGOs and grassroots associations? In building theory, do North/South distinctions matter? Do finances and politics matter? What are common themes, differences and tensions? Are the differences global or local?

Participants: Alnoor Ebrahim, Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations, Harvard University, USA
Adil Najam, The Pardde Center for the Study of the Longer-Term Future, Boston University, USA
Terje Tvedt, Centre for Development Studies, University of Bergen, Norway
(Coordinated by ISTR)