Concept note

Over the last decades, civil society organisations have significantly contributed to give universal values and norms a more salient position within the international political system. However, such a contribution is now widely defied by current global developments that are changing the state-civil society mutual relationship. The enduring phase of human rights regression, democratic backsliding, widespread conflict, and worsening climate crisis have been accompanied by a reorientation of the international system towards Westphalian power politics, which constitutes a fundamental challenge to civil society’s capacity to fulfil its consolidated role. More specifically, while NGOs, social movements and individual advocates are notably facing raising governmental pressures and intimidation to act domestically, such daunting historical phase is also affecting the global dimension of civil society’s engagement, challenging its expected positive impact on the multilateral regimes for international human rights law, international democracy, and peace.

This International Conference aims to take stock of the current state of health of transnational bottom-up actions, proposals and strategies to support these regimes, their norms, values and institutions. To this end, the event seeks to gather scholars and doctoral students from different disciplinary perspectives, as well as experts and practitioners at all levels of governance, to exchange their perspectives and critical views on the following underlying questions:

1. What are today the main opportunities and the practical and relational obstacles for civil society organisations to unite across borders to develop human rights standards and support the monitoring and recommendatory work of international (human rights) organisms?
2. What ideas and actions are civil society organisations considering and proposing to adapt, resist to and overcome the current global scenario and advance an international order of peace where international law and multilateral institutions are fundamentally respected by the members of the international community?
3. How are the negotiation style and the methods of “NGOs’ diplomacy” practically and conceptually shifting to bypass the current breakdown of values and norms?