Bettina von Lieres

Dr. Bettina von Lieres teaches at the University of Toronto where she works on democratic  governance, citizen participation and social change in the global South. Recent publications include "Mobilising for Democracy: Citizen Action and the Politics of Public Participation" (co-edited with Vera Schattan Coelho, Zed Books 2010), "Democracy and Citizenship" (co-written with Steven Robins ) in New South African Keywords, 2008, "Re-Thinking Citizenship in the Postcolony" (co-written with Andrea Cornwall and Steven Robins, Third World Quarterly, 2008, and “Expert Advocacy for the Marginalised" (co-authored with Laurence Piper), IDS/DRC Working Paper 2011.   

Bettina worked for ten years (from 1991 - 2001) as a researcher and teacher in the Political Studies department at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa.  She was also the co-convenor of the “Deepening Democracy” working group of the Development Research Centre for Citizenship, Participation and Accountablity (www.drc-citizenship.org) from 2007-2011, as well as the convenor of a researcher/practitioner network project, the “Middle Spaces” project, funded by the Ford Foundation in Cape Town, South Africa, from 2005-2008. She is currently co-convening a new global research network on citizen action and democratisation, the Collaboration for Research on Democracy (CORD).