Apologies for cross posting.

Final Call for Papers
Can we speak of an emerging global civil society?  Does it promise ‘a world for
all’?
The Centre for Theology and Public Issues, University of Edinburgh, and the
Irish School of Ecumenics, Trinity College Dublin, are holding a conference for
civil society researchers, policy-makers and NGO practitioners to explore these
empirical and ethical questions. Keynote speakers include John Keane, Centre
for the Study of Democracy, London; Kimberley Hutchings, London School of
Economics; Max Stackhouse, Princeton Theological Seminary; and Vandana Shiva,
Research Foundation for Science, Technology & Ecology, New Delhi.  After an
excellent response to the First Call for Papers, there are still places left
for proposals in the following three conference research streams:

Stream 1:Concept of Global Civil Society
The idea of global civil society emerged in the 1990s. John Keane, the opening
keynote conference speaker, has argued in Global Civil Society? (CUP 2003),that
the term is protean and must be used with caution. Keane identifies three
different usages.  First, there are analytical-descriptive usages that draw on
theoretical distinctions and empirical research to identify and interpret the
key actors, institutions and events, without making normative judgements. 
Second, the concept is used as a strategic term by those campaigning for goals
such as freedom or justice at the global level, and focuses on the political
means or constraints to achieving these goals in a global civil society. Third,
the term is used as a normative ideal, arguing that such a global civil society
is ethically a good thing in itself. Proposals are invited for papers that
explore the varied usages of this contested concept.

Stream 2:International Politics and Global Civil Society
Trans-national movements and organisations network across the increasingly
borderless world, building coalitions of solidarity. In such mobilisation,
challenge is made to the practices and norms of the current international
political order. So the hope arises that global civil society can ‘civilise the
international’. Yet questions persist as to whether this understanding of global
civil society is unduly optimistic, apolitical and romanticised. The issue of
the relative power of global civil society actors in relation to one another,
states and international organisations needs addressing. As does the assumption
that global civil society is an unequivocal moral good. The conference seeks to
engage with these questions by calling for papers that address the empirical
reality and/or ethical possibilities of global civil society in relation to
international politics, including the role of nation states and global
governance bodies.

Stream 3:Religion and Global Civil Society
Religion has played multiple, significant and ambivalent roles in the
development of global civil society. Trans-national networks of religious
organisations have contributed to international aid and development, enabled
ever closer communications between religious centres and their global
diasporas, and channelled support to militant organisations. Religion’s role in
global civil society has been variously theorised as a resource for resistance,
a source of identity mobilisation, or the basis for a global ethic. Religious
agencies in local civil societies are increasingly interacting with global
flows of ideas and resources. Proposals are invited for papers that reflect on
the diverse roles of trans-national religious bodies and networks, or the
distinctive nature of religious beliefs about local-global civil society, from
theological or social scientific perspectives.

Abstracts (200 words plus title) of proposed research papers should be submitted
by 29 April (reply by 6 May) 2005 to Conference Administrator, Centre for
Theology and Public Issues: Tel. (+44) 0131 650 7991 E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Further conference details can be found on the CTPI website: 
http://www.div.ed.ac.uk/aworldforall.html


Karoline McLean
Administrative Secretary
Centre for Theology and Public Issues
University of Edinburgh
New College
Mound Place
Edinburgh EH1 2LX
Tel. 0131 650 7991