This graduate student conference will explore the impact of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on civil society in developing, newly industrializing, and post-socialist countries. The conference will examine how the proliferation of NGOs as transnational and local entities has transformed the boundaries between state and society, and the implications of these changes on the nature and significance of national citizenship. Possible paper topics include the ways NGOs have affected the development of civil society and democracy, state and society relations, different models of modernization and economic and ecological development, and transformations of citizenship especially in the areas of human rights and gender and ethnic equality.

Recent events and political developments highlight the timeliness of a conference addressing these issues. In late 1999, representatives of NGOs from around the world gathered in Seattle, Washington to protest the World Trade Organization's negotiations, and in the process tapped into popular feelings of discontent about the pace and direction of economic globalization. In Latin America, the increasing role of international NGOs in brokering relations is of growing concern. NGOs have also played a role in fostering the growth of civil society and democratic institutions in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

We believe that interdisciplinary dialogue on such topics will advance both academic scholarship and policy-oriented research. Specifically, as anthropologists coordinating this conference, we bring extensive fieldwork and theoretical reflection on important cultural, economic and political changes in the world. We also invite scholars and students from disciplines such as Sociology, Ethnic Studies, History, International Relations, and Political Science. Regional focus includes, but is not limited to, post-Soviet Eastern Europe, Latin America, the US, East Asia and Africa. Located at the University of California, San Diego, the conference will benefit from the School of International Relations/Pacific Studies, the Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies, the US/Mexico Center, the Institute of Global Conflict and Cooperation, and our position on the border between the US and Mexico.

For graduate students and post docs. Please send abstracts of 250 words or less, preferably by e-mail, to Armine Ishkanian at the e-mail address, standard mail, or fax number below.

The deadline for receipt of abstracts is March 24, 2000.