This course has, as field of analysis, the lives of not-for- profit organizations. Departing from the idea that NGO-s have nowadays become extremely powerful agents under complex policy, institutional and socio-cultural conditions, the course moves deep into the study of these organizations from inside. Gaining insights into the functions of these organizations allows the student to assume a critical perspective of the societal roles of these organizations and of their positions within narratives of development, accountability, transparency and reflexivity. The course provides a number of policy case studies from around the world and outcomes of ethnographic research that allow investigation within the inner dimensions of this third-sector orgnizations as well as with their political and economic roles in different geographical contexts. 

Targets:  

The course is destined to BA undergraduate and MSc graduate students. In particular, it is useful to students of Master level who conduct or are about to conduct research on third sector organizations in different geographical and socio-cultural conditions. By providing data and insights obtained from research, in particular but not only, ethnographic, it aims to provide students with skills of research and of data analysis.   

The course for BA students has as its main aim to introduce the complex reality of Not for profit organizations that operate on different fields and in a global context. It is challenging to demand from BA students a knowledge of the changing relevance of these organizations in time and space. Nonetheless, thanks to an array of area, policy and ethnographic studies the students will become able to judge the true role of NGOs as stakeholders in geopolitical and local context. When considering the high cultural diversity of CEU’s students the timeliness of this course becomes visible.