Guest Speaker:

Kees Biekart, Associate Professor of Political Sociology at the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) in The Hague, which is part of Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR).

This talk elaborated the following aspects: (1) how international NGOs can support civic-driven change processes to engage in advocacy in fragile states; (2) to what extent polycentric governance processes can provide space to overcome systematic exclusion of disadvantaged groups; (3) how capable civil society organizations can enter into dialogue and negotiation with their governments to arrive at inclusive forms of governance. In particular, the talk also explored the idea behind the civic-driven change and figured out the role played by international aid agencies and looked at the conditions needed for realizing the civic-driven change in a setting in which states are either absent or illegitimate because of their authoritarian nature. Among the conclusion are International NGO can expand civic space as the key condition for civic-driven change (CDC), provide international solidarity and links with global networks, and avoid traditional development aid.

The Special Talk was held in Ritsumeikan University Kinugasa Campus, on November 25, 2015, hosted by the Ritsumeikan Global Innovation Research Organization (R-GIRO) and Ritsumeikan University's Graduate School of International Relations.  Approximately 75 participants attended the workshop.