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Social Change

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Social Change

How social change processes can contribute to more just and sustainable societies read more

The Broker sees social change as a complex series of processes in which politics, economics and culture determine how events unfold. An interdisciplinary analysis of such processes contributes to smart strategies for citizens, social movements and NGOs to achieve just societies.

The Broker blog

The Broker is back!

 | 18 December 2012

The Broker is back! For the past month, our editorial team has been working hard to put together aDossier on Inequality,... read more

Dossier Inequality

Putting inequality on the map
Articles

Putting inequality on the map

Sara Murawski | December 18, 2012

In recent decades, inequality has been increasing worldwide. Although the middle classes are growing, most of the world’s population continues to live close to the poverty lines. ‘Emerging giants’ India and China are witnessing soaring inequality rates, but Latin America is making improvemen...

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Special Report: Future Calling

Editorial: Rooting INGOs in home soil

Frans Bieckmann | March 09, 2012

I recently chaired a forum that discussed whether a new paradigm has emerged in the field of development cooperation, and if so, what does it consist of? A great deal of time at these kinds of debates is spent exploring definitions and their usefulness. Is it really a new paradigm, or a new narrative or something less consequential? In the end, it does not really matter what we choose to call it. What does matter is that we are facing new circumstances that will fundamentally alter the way we design development policies, whether they be bilateral, multilateral or non-government...

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Featured blogs

Inequality debate

Should inequality become a central issue in the post-2015 agenda? And what would that mean in terms of policy chan...

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Blog Posts

Civic driven change

Editorial: Connecting and catalyzing

Editorial: Connecting and catalyzing

Frans Bieckmann | October 07, 2008

Burkinabé writer and politician Joseph Ki-Zerbo said,‘On ne développe pas, on se développe’ (‘People aren’t developed; people develop themselves’). He argued for a development strategy ‘that gets its force from local realities and our own values, and which is open for all positive influences from outside’. There is a long tradition in development thinking that stresses the need for this kind of bottom-up approa...

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People´s power

Willemijn Verkoren | December 02, 2008

In ‘Deep democracy’ (The Broker 10), a new approach to development – civic driven change (CDC) – was presented. The Broker asked people all over the world to participate in a debate on CDC. This article summarizes their respons...

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Emerged powers

Brazil braves new waters

Brazil braves new waters

Jean-Paul Marthoz | June 10, 2011

Brazil's new-found status as an economic power and conflict mediator has led some to question their motives. President Dilma Rousseff will have to find ways to deflect accusations of self-interest and regional hegemo...

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Living analysis

Identifying obstacles

Identifying obstacles

April 14, 2010

We need to expand our knowledge and use it in more context-specific analyses. The question is at what scale: national, regional or glob...

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Editorial: Living analysis

Frans Bieckmann | April 07, 2008

We’ve heard a lot about ‘Web 2.0’ lately, and now we’re starting to hear about ‘Science 2.0’. But what does ‘2.0’ actually mean? To me, ‘2.0’ refers to any process that enables the transparent sharing of insights, ideas and arguments in order to achieve a more comprehensive understanding. I think Science 2.0 can have an equally exciting impact on the scientific communi...

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The virtues of virtuality

Enrique Mendizabal, Stephen Yeo | June 30, 2010

Changing realities are causing some think tanks to consider reshaping themselves as ‘think nets’, which may be cheaper to run and more conducive to open innovation. But do they have the same ability as think tanks to adapt and evol...

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