Date and time:
2017-06-02 - 2017-10-03
Location:
(Lietuvių) VDU Mažoji salė
The conference is dedicated to research about civil society in East Asian countries. scholars will present their insights on what role civil society is playing in East Asia, in what ways non-governmental sector is organized, what challenges and opportunities civil activists encounter in each country, and what effects civil society has on democracy, peace, international cooperation, sustainable development and other spheres on the global, regional, national and local scale. The organizers are expecting presence of three renowned scholars of civil society in East Asia who will deliver their keynote speeches: Koichi Hasegawa (Tohoku University), Sunhyuk Kim (Korea University) and Julie Gilson (University of Birmingham).
Civil society is often considered to be one of the cornerstones of a well-functioning democracy. As numerous cases from all over the world reveal, active engagement of citizens in checking and balancing the government
and the market sector can strengthen implementation of human rights, lead to improvement in environmental protection, ensure better provision of welfare services, increase awareness about global issues, and build trust and sense of community among citizens.
Existing research also shows that civil society has plenty of regional variations influenced by historical experiences, cultural background and shared values. East Asia is an especially interesting case in this sense because of rapid societal and economic changes and globalization processes in the past few decades. The relatively recent boom in the number of non-governmental organizations that happened in East Asian countries and spread of activism and volunteering culture create a rich ground for scholars to test existing theories and create new hypotheses. The organizers hope that the conference will contribute to encouraging and strengthening of research activities in this field.
Web link: (Lietuvių) http://asc.vdu.lt/lt/2017/05/call-for-papers-civil-society-in-east-asian-countries/