Palestinian civil society and the struggle for self-determination: the impact of donor agendas

• Author / Creator

  Alzaghari, Saleh

• This thesis explores the ways in which international donors have attempted to shape and control civil society organizations in the occupied Palestinian territories. It employs Foucault's concepts of power/knowledge and disciplinary power to investigate and theorize the power-relations that govern the interactions of donors with civil society organizations. It contends that international donors have construed the concept of civil society in such a way that made it possible to partition social space into two incommensurable ‘civic’ and ‘political’ spheres. International donors have demanded that organizations limit their activities to the ‘civic’ sphere. Moreover, the thesis argues that per the requirements of discipline that the objects of its surveillance be rendered visible and subject to technologies of control, donors have used both statistical surveys and administrative techniques to classify, categorize, observe and monitor civil society organizations. These modes of surveillance are then used for locating civil society organizations in one of the ‘civic’ and ‘political’ spheres.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Palestinian
  • Collective action
  • Civil society
  • Disciplinary power
  • Donors

• Graduation date

  Fall 2012

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Arts

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3C09P

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.