International Civic Engagement

New Books and Upcoming Conferences on Social Capital

From Fabio Sabatini of Social Capital Gateway:

Dear All,
this is to let you know about some interesting news on social capital and related topics.

New conferences

- International Conference Social Capital and Financial Inclusion. The conference will take place in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 9th November 2007. Please follow the link for further details:

http://www.socialcapitalgateway.org/eng-edinburgh2007.html

- International Conference on Comparative Development. The conference will be held in New Delhi, India, on 18-19 December 2007. The deadline for paper submission is 30 September 2007. Please follow the link for further details:

http://www.socialcapitalgateway.org/eng-newdelhi2007.html

New books

- Nan Lin and Bonnie Erickson (eds), Social Capital. An International Research Program, Oxford University Press. Please follow the link for further details and to purchase the book with 20% discount:

http://www.socialcapitalgateway.org/eng-news.htm#lin

- Mike Osborne, Kate Sankey and Bruce Wilson (eds), Social Capital, Lifelong Learning and the Management of Place: An International Perspective, Routledge:

http://www.socialcapitalgateway.org/eng-news.htm#pascalbook

- Sofia Correia, Social Capital and Civic Community, the virtuous circle of citizenship. Applying the Putnam model to Caselas residents. The book is in Portoguese and the original title is: Capital Social e Comunidade Cívica, o círculo virtuoso da cidadania. Aplicação do Modelo de Putnam aos residentes do Bairro de Caselas:

http://www.socialcapitalgateway.org/eng-news.htm#correia

Upcoming Events and Publications on Social Capital and Related Topics

From Fabio Sabatini of Social Capital Gateway:

Dear All,
this is to let you know about some interesting news and events on social capital and related topics.

Books

- Frane Adam (ed), Social Capital and Governance. Old and New Members of the EU in Comparison. Three  Please follow the link for further details:

http://www.socialcapitalgateway.org/eng-news.htm#adam

- Ben Anderson, Malcolm Brynin, Yoel Raban, and Jonathan Gershuny (eds), Information and Communications Technologies in Society: E-Living in a Digital Europe. chapters are devoted to the relationship between social capital and ICTs.

Conferences

- The Conference "Life-long learning in the city-region", organized by The PASCAL Observatory on Place Management, Social Capital and Learning Regions will take place in Pecs, Hungary, 23-25 September 2007. I would like to remind you that the deadline for the PASCAL conference Abstracts is on 31 March. Please follow the link for further details:

http://www.socialcapitalgateway.org/eng-pecs2007.html

- The Symposium "Social capital: building bridges between social sciences" will be held in Aarhus, Denmark, on April 19 2007. Please follow the link for further details:

http://www.socialcapitalgateway.org/eng-aarhus2007.html

- The fee for the TSFC (The Social Capital Foundation) Hawaii conference on "Ethnic diversity" has been staggered and that the "early intermediate" rate wille expire on March 31. Please follow the link for further details on registration:

http://www.socialcapital-foundation.org/conferences/2007/registration%20and%20fees.htm

Weekly report on social norms and social capital

- I also remind you that the "NEP-Soc Report on Social Norms & Social Capital" has been activated within the RePEc project, in co-operation with the EconLit database. Subscribers will receive a weekly notification reporting new papers on social capital related topics. Please click on the link below for free subscription:

http://lists.repec.org/mailman/listinfo/nep-soc

Thank you for your attention and best regards.
Fabio Sabatini

New Book on Digital State at the Leading Edge

From Sandford Borins courtesy of IPMN:

I am pleased to announce the publication of Digital State at the Leading
Edge, by Kenneth Kernaghan, David Brown, Nick Bontis, Perri 6, Fred
Thompson, and myself. The book is the first attempt to take a
comprehensive view of the impact of information technology on the whole
of government, including politics and campaigning, service delivery,
public consultation, knowledge management, and procurement. It features
extensive case studies based on five years of observation of the federal
and Ontario governments, and incorporates comparative chapters on the US
and UK.

More information can be found on the book’s website,
www.digitalstate.ca, which includes the introductory chapter, table of
contents, supplementary material, author biographies, and links to the
publisher, University of Toronto Press, and online booksellers.

The book is also being launched at conferences in Toronto on February 20
and Ottawa on February 22. The conferences, sponsored by the Institute
of Public Administration of Canada and Public Policy Forum, bring
together the authors and leading practitioners in government, the
private sector, and online politics. www.digitalstate.ca also contains
links to the conference agendas and registration.

With best wishes,

Sandford Borins,
Professor of Public Management,
University of Toronto

Cornel West on Civic Engagement

I just finished reading Cornel West’s Democracy Matters, which I have adopted as a textbook for my fall class at Park University (Public Affairs Concepts and Theory).  I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in civic engagement and democracy.

Let me share a few of West’s relevant quotes (my highlighter has almost run out of ink from all the passages I marked in that book):

“Democracy is always a movement of an energized public to make elites responsible - it is at its core and most basic foundation the taking back of one's powers in the face of the misuse of elite power.  In this sense, democracy is more a verb than a noun - it is more a dynamic striving and collective movement than a static order or stationary status quo.  Democracy is not just a system of governance, as we tend to think of it, but a cultural way of being.”

“It is imperative that young people – of all classes and colors – see that the older generation in the academy cares about them, that we take them seriously, and that we want to hear what they have to day.”

“In past moments of national division, young people played a disproportionate role in deepening the American democratic experiment.  The black freedom struggle and the anti-war movement in the 1960s were largely sustained owing to their vision and courage.  As older folk become jaded, disillusioned, and weary, the lively moral energy of reflective and compassionate young people can play a vital role in pushing democratic momentum.”

Those of us in the education world should take to heart West’s astute observations.

This past week, students have returned to my university campus, generating a renewed sense of enthusiasm on the campus and reminding us of the hope and promise of a better tomorrow.

Book Announcement - A New Engagement? Political Particpation, Civic Life and the Changing American Citizen

A New Engagement? Political Particpation, Civic Life and the Changing American Citizen

Authored by Cliff Zuken, Scott Keeter, Molly Andolina, Krista Jenkins, and Michael X. Delli Carprini

Published by Oxford University Press
http://www.oup.com/uk/catalogue/?ci=9780195183177

In searching for answers as to why young people differ vastly from their parents and grandparents when it comes to turning out the vote, A New Engagement challenges the conventional wisdom that today's youth is plagued by a severe case of political apathy. In order to understand the current nature of citizen engagement, it is critical to separate political from civic engagement. Using the results from an original set of surveys and the authors' own primary research, they conclude that while older citizens participate by voting, young people engage by volunteering and being active in their communities.