A Global Civil Society Forum: Its Form and Creation - Scenario 1

to appear in Centre for Global Studies, University of Victoria

Jan Aart Scholte

Published: October 2006

Keywords: Civil society, global, governance, organization, organisation, ngo, igo, Civil Society

Abstract:

A Concept Paper for the Civil Society Conference, Waterloo, Ontario, October 17-19, 2006

The general tenor of the proposal is modest and incremental. A scheme to aggregate civil society voices can easily fall foul of the associations' laudable insistence on their diversity and autonomy. Most of these citizen groups will resist any project that construes aggregation to entail centralisation and amalgamation, particularly if such a strategy is seen to be encouraged by official circles. The initiative to develop something akin to a GCSF must therefore be treated as a cautious experiment whose pace and evolution are determined by the civil society participants themselves.

Disciplines: Governance

Publication: Scenario-1_Jan-Aart-Scholte.pdf