Expert Group Meeting: Concept and Program
“Conflict” or “Protest”? Governments’ approach impacts their pursuit of stability, peace and justice Date: November 5, 9:00am – 1:00pm Location: Roger Smith Hotel, 501 Lexington Avenue, New York NY, Solarium Room
In recent years the world has been shaken by unrest, from the largely peaceful protests of the Arab Spring, the antiausterity movement in Europe and Occupy and the movement of the Squares around the world, to violent protests that spiked in 2007-08 due to riots over food prices, as well as ongoing hot spots of civil war and armed conflict that continue in many countries. A leading cause of rising protests are grievances related to economic needs, including demands to reform public services and pensions, create good jobs and better labor conditions, make tax collection and fiscal spending progressive, reduce or eliminate inequality, alleviate low-living standards, enact land reform, and ensure affordable food, energy and housing. Complicating efforts to meet these economic needs, which are the bedrock of stable and peaceful societies, recent years have seen an increasing failure of existing political arrangements at the local, national and global levels to address – in a peaceful, just and orderly way – both the grievances raised by peaceful protesters and also the problems highlighted by violent conflict. The resulting crisis of political representation suggests that not only authoritarian governments but also representative democracies both old and new are failing to be accountable to the needs of their citizens. Seemingly more and more concerned citizens around the world are expressing their grievances and aspirations in the form of protest. Unfortunately, the approach to even peaceful protests on the part of many governments has been one of conflict management rather than pursuit of justice. Failure to acknowledge demands for greater democratic participation – in other words, to learn from the issues raised by protests, whether these come in the form of articulate campaigns or through violent or destructive acts – will impede the pursuit of not only justice, but also the peace and stability which is the goal of conflict management. The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung New York and the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs have organized a half-day conference with participants including strategists from social and political movements, researchers in academic institutions and think tanks who study social movements and conflict, and advisers to governments on internal and external conflicts and democratic dialogue. The aim is to discuss “conflict” vs. “protest” and the evolution of the concepts of global security, global governance and global justice.
For more information contact Sara Burke, Senior Policy Analyst, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung New York,
[email protected] | Tel: +1 (212) 687-0208
09:00 Registration and Breakfast Buffet 09:15 Welcome Remarks: Michèle Auga, Executive Director, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung New York David Speedie, Senior Fellow; Director, U.S. Global Engagement Program, Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs 09:30 Introduction: Sara Burke, Senior Policy Analyst, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung New York 09:45 Setting the Stage: Global Governance and Global Justice, discussion moderated by Michèle Auga “The Institutionalists vs. ‘Participatistas’” (15 min) Patrick Heller, Professor of Sociology and International Studies, Director of the Graduate Program in Development, Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University “What can the Global Database of Events Language and Tone (GDELT) Project Reveal about Conflict and Protest on the Global Stage?” (15 min) Kalev Leetaru, Yahoo! Fellow in Residence of International Values, Communications Technology & the Global Internet, Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University “Collecting Data on Protests: Recommendations and a Way Forward” (15 min) Mohamed Berrada, Researcher, World Protest Database 2.0; Ph.D. Student, New School for Social Research 11:00 Coffee Break 11:15 Mapping protest and conflict, discussion moderated by Nermeen Shaikh, Producer and Weekly Co-Host, Democracy Now! “Food Riots and Food Rights: the Moral and Political; Economy of Accountability for Hunger” (15 min) Naomi Hossain, Research Fellow, Governance, Institute of Development Studies “Mapping Conflict and Protest in Latin America” (15 min) Pablo González, Analyst, Conflict Prevention and Democratic Dialogue Regional Service Centre for Latin America and the Caribbean, United Nations Development Programme “Rise of Far Right Extremist Groups in Europe” (15 min) Krisztina Bombera, Journalist, ATV Hungary 12:30 Frameworks for transformation, discussion moderated by Chris Grove, Director, International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights “Open Government and Crowdsourcing: What more responsive government might look like” (15 min) Raul Zambrano, Global Policy Advisor, Information and Communications Technology for Development (ICTD) and e-governance BPPS, United Nations Development Programme Respondents: Vicente Rubio, Participant, M15 and Occupy Wall Street-Making Worlds Alnoor Ladha, Executive Director, /The Rules 13:15 Lunch provided
