- With apologies for cross-posting -

CFP, INTERFACE, ISSUE 2 ABOUT "CIVIL SOCIETY VERSUS SOCIAL MOVEMENTS"

Interface is a new journal produced twice yearly by activists and
academics around the world in response to the development and
increased visibility of social movements in the last few years - and
the immense amount of knowledge generated in this process. This
knowledge is created across the globe, and in many contexts and a
variety of ways, and it constitutes an incredibly valuable resource
for the further development of social movements. Interface responds to
this need, as a tool to help our movements learn from each other’s
struggles.

Interface is a forum bringing together activists from different
movements and different countries, researchers working with movements,
and progressive academics from various countries to contribute to the
production of knowledge that can help us gain insights across
movements and issues, across continents and cultures, and across
theoretical and disciplinary traditions. To this end, Interface seeks
to develop analysis and knowledge that allow lessons to be learned
from specific movement processes and experiences and translated into a
form useful for other movements.

We invite both formal research (qualitative and quantitative) and
practically-grounded work on all aspects of social movements. In doing
so, we welcome contributions by movement participants and academics
who are developing movement-relevant theory and research. Our goal is
to include material that can be used in a range of ways by movements –
in terms of its content, its language, its purpose and its form.

We are seeking work in a range of different formats, such as
conventional articles, review essays, facilitated discussions and
interviews, action notes, teaching notes, key documents and analysis,
book reviews – and beyond (see details in the guidelines for
contributors). Research contributions are reviewed by both activist
and academic peers, other material is sympathetically edited by peers,
and the editorial process generally will be geared towards assisting
authors to find ways of expressing their understanding, so that we all
can be heard across geographical, social and political distances.

Our first issue, published in January 2009, focussed on the theme of
"movement knowledge": what we know, how we create knowledge, what we
do with it and how it can make a difference either in movement
struggles or in creating a different and better world.

Our second issue, to be published in September 2009, will have space
for general articles on all aspects of understanding social movements,
as well as a special themed section on "civil society versus social
movements". By this we mean the increasing tension between
officially-approved versions of popular participation in politics
geared towards the mobilisation of consent for neo-liberalism – the
world of consultation and participation, NGOs and partnership – and
the less polite and polished world of people's attempts to participate
in politics on their own terms, in their own forms and for their own
purposes – social movements, popular protest, direct action, and so
on. In drawing this distinction, we realise that civil society
organisations and social movements often have complex and
contradictory practices and relationships which do not fit into two
clearly distinguished categories. One of the objectives of this
edition is not therefore to impose a straightjacket on reflections and
analysis of these different types of participation but rather to open
up discussion and strategic thinking between activists, movement
participants and researchers working in different contexts and with
different experiences.

The types of questions and experiences we are interested in exploring
include (but are not limited to):

- To what extent do social movements and civil society organisations
exist in an antagonistic and conflictual relationship?

- Are there examples in which this relationship can become
constructive for the struggle for popular democracy and social
justice?

- What can particular experiences of these types of participation tell
us about the possibilities and limitations for the development and
strengthening of popular resistance to neoliberalism?

- How can we develop theory and practice that overcomes the often
idealistic notion that NGOs are always actors that foster social
justice?

- How can we overcome the often simplistic critique of NGOs as the
‘trojan horses of neoliberalism’?

- What can the experiences of workers and participants in civil
society organisations tell us about the nature of domination and
resistance?

The deadline for contributions for the second issue is May 15th, 2009.
Please contact the appropriate editor if you are thinking of
submitting an article. You can access the journal and get further
details at http://www.interfacejournal.net/ .

Interface is programmatically multilingual: at present we can accept
and review submissions in Catalan, Croatian, Danish, English, French,
German, Hungarian, Italian, Maltese, Norwegian, Portuguese, Romanian,
Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish. We are also willing to
try and find suitable referees for submissions in other languages, but
cannot guarantee that at this point.

We are also very much looking for activists or academics interested in
becoming part of Interface, particularly with the African, South
Asian, Spanish-speaking Latin American, East and Central European,
Mediterranean, Oceanian and North American groups. If you are
interested, please contact the relevant editors, details here
http://www.interfacejournal.net/2008/03/editorial-contacts.html


-- 
Alice Mattoni
Department of Political and Social Sciences
European University Institute

Badia Fiesolana
Via dei Roccettini 9
I-50016 San Domenico di Fiesole (FI)

Mobile: +39 349 5609048
Skype: aliceemme
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