Department of International Relations and International Organisation
Oude Kijk in 't Jatstraat 26
9715 EK
Groningen
Netherlands
- Democracy and community development
Research in Ethics and Globalisation (REG) has a special academic interest in the political and legal developments of the Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) region. Focusing on Egypt and Tunisia in particular (but not exclusively), the aim of REG is to combine empirical research with political and legal philosophical considerations – thereby facilitating a critical approach that not only problematizes hegemonic discourses on/in the region but also leads to a greater understanding of the region’s complexity.
The specific themes that REG focuses on are the relation between law and theology, transitional justice, human rights and democracy.
REG is furthermore interested in the relation of all of these themes to the socio-economic problems persisting in the region – including its high rates of poverty.
With these aims and themes in mind, REG is undertaking a cluster of activities in the region, in cooperation with our key regional and international partners.
Our main project is the Centre for Democracy and Human Rights that we are setting up at the University of Sousse in Tunisia.
This Centre should be a hub of activity for local, national and international scholars on the issues of democracy, transitional justice and human rights alike.
Our aim is to facilitate scholarly and student exchange as well as the interplay between scholars, students, activists and political actors.
We are running a Summer School on Democracy and Transitional Justice at the University of Sousse in Tunisia, 3 -13 August – for Tunisian, Dutch and International students.
We are hosting the Making Democracy International Network. We are organizing a conference on the “Arab Revolts: Continuity or Change” at Brighton University as well as Imagining Democracy: From MENA to Asia at Groningen University.
We are a partner in the Critical Middle Eastern Studies research programme ran by Durham University, Manchester University and Aberdeen University.
Please see: http://www.rug.nl/gsg/Sections/REG/mena-initiatives
We have a great academic capacity that not only straddles disciplines (such as law, politics, international relations, sociology and philosophy) but also national boundaries.
We have a strong local presence in Tunisia through our engagements with the University of Sousse, and our centre there.
We furthermore have strong local ties with activists in Cairo and wider Egypt as well as Libya. We believe that we can therefore contribute positively to other initiatives within the foundation.
We believe that it would be great to join forces with other initiatives, expand our engagement with both local and international actors, as well as provide our Centre on Human Rights and Democracy in Sousse as an venue for the facilitation of exchange.
We particularly prefer to work with a bottom up approach, thus working closely with local actors in the region on the ground.
This has also been our strength - and we believe that the Anna Lindh foundation would allow us to build further on this strength.