Course Description

Examines the theoretical and practical challenges NGOs and other stakeholders encounter in an emerging global civil society. Language of instruction differs by year.

グローバル化する世界を市民の立場から理解するとどうなるのか。様々なNGOや社会運動などが構築する地球市民社会の理論と実践について概観する。開講年度によって、開講言語が異なる。

This lecture will first give an overview of the entire course, and the course concept. The concept of the course has two dimensions: a theoretical and an empirical. The course lay a theoretical foundation that will make it possible to understand and analyze what civil society and global civil society is, it will also provide “real world” example from representative of Japanese global civil society actors, and finally, the students will gather an inside look into civil society organization by setting up one themselves, and by developing a campaign about a issues of their choice. The “mock” NGOs will consist of about five students, who will meet regularly in and outside the class to develop a campaign that is viable and can finally convince someone to give them ten million dollars to continue their campaign.

The following questions will be raised in the lecture:

What is Civil Society?

1. How Global is Global Civil Society?

2. What can we expect it to do?

3. Does it have legitimacy?

4. What theories in international relations and political science explain this phenomenon?

5. How can we analyze it and understand its impact?