This book explores the roles of civil society organisations (CSOs) when engaging in public diplomacy activities and their impact on community development and change. It provides up-to-date analysis of the challenges and constraints facing CSOs involved in diplomatic missions and working with foreign donors.
Bringing together case studies from Cameroon, Egypt, Poland, Palestine, Lebanon and Libya, this edited collection reflects on how external calls for proposals in the fields of women’s empowerment, community development, education, training, exchange programmes, democracy, human rights and peacebuilding influence the way civil society organisations contribute, deliver, intervene and position themselves in various societies. It explores the lessons learnt by various CSOs in identifying societal problems, understanding grassroots demands, prioritising development agendas and campaigning for peacebuilding. Grounded in a firm theoretical framework and based on up-to-date empirical research, the book reflects on the leadership shown by civil society organisations in development, politics and business and their impact on community development initiatives and local change process.
This book will be an important resource for researchers, policymakers, donors, NGO practitioners and the beneficiaries themselves, within the areas of international development, peacebuilding, civil society, politics and international relations.
1. Introducing public diplomacy in civil society organisations
Ibrahim Natil
2. Exploring new concepts and practices of civil society organisations’ public diplomacy
Ibrahim Natil
3. Historical review of public diplomacy: Milestones for civic engagement and business
Mohammad Al-Mazawdah
4. Public diplomacy and civil society penetration: The new ‘scramble for Africa’
Nguh Nwei Asanga Fon
5. Being at the forefront: Polish CSOs’ contribution to public diplomacy and development cooperation efforts
Galia Chimiak and Katarzyna Zalas-Kamińska
6. Barriers to CSOs’ public diplomacy: Failure of multilateral intervention, conflict, violence and militarism
Ibrahim Natil
7. Civil society organisations’ public diplomacy and youth political participation in Egypt
Ahmed El Assal and Amr Marzouk
8. Challenges to civil society organisations’ public diplomacy: Militarism, restrictions and violence in Libya and Lebanon
Ibrahim Natil
9. Concluding thoughts: New directions for civil society organisations’ public diplomacy
Ibrahim Natil
Biography
Ibrahim Natil has published many works, including seven books, taught at different academic institutions and worked for many civil society and international organisations. He is an Associate Professor of International Relations and Diplomacy and Assistant Dean for Programs at Joaan Bin Jasim Academy for Defence Studies and a Research Fellow at the Institute of International Conflict Resolution and Re-construction (IICRR) at Dublin City University, Ireland. He is also the Co-convenor of NGOs in Development Study Group, DSA-UK, and the founder of Society Voice Foundation and winner of the Robert Chamber Best Overall Paper, selected by DSA Ireland (2017). He has invited a guest and visiting lecturer to a number of universities and has acted as an external examiner at a number of well-known universities such as Glasgow Caledonian (2021), Durham University (2020) and Bradford University (2018/2021). He also managed more than 60 community projects in the field of human rights, community peacebuilding and women and youth empowerment since 1997.
