Michael Edwards left the Ford Foundation, where he had been director of the Governance & Civil Society Unit, on 17 October 2008. He is now a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Demos in New York, a Visiting Senior Scholar at New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service, and a Visiting Senior Fellow at the Brooks World Poverty Institute at Manchester University in northern England. He is the author of Civil Society (Polity Press, 2003); Future Positive: International Co-operation in the 21st Century (James & James, 2004); and Just Another Emperor? The Myths and Realities of Philanthrocapitalism (Demos/Young Foundation, March 2008).

Michael Edwards's website is here. He can be reached at edwarmi@hotmail.com

Recent articles

Michael Edwards's book on business-led philanthropy, "Just Another Emperor?", launched a vigorous public debate across the non-profit sector and beyond. Now, in an environment transformed by the global financial crisis, he reviews the arguments the book provoked, responds to critics, and reaffirms the importance of a "civil-society-strong" perspective in face of "a tsunami of pro-business thinking".

(This article was first published on 14 November 2008)

The application of business principles to the world of civil society and social change has fashion, wealth, power and celebrity behind it. But where is the evidence that "philanthrocapitalism" works, and are there better ways to achieve urgently needed global social progress? It's time to end the hype and start the debate, says Michael Edwards

(This article was first published on 19 March 2008)

The need for effective, imaginative, change-facilitating research has never been greater. But what kinds of knowledge, and what processes of knowledge-creation, can today best serve the needs of a world dominated by power, prejudice and dogma? Michael Edwards outlines a fresh vision of "revolutionary social science".

An evolving common ground of open-minded, web-savvy citizens is creating a renewed civic culture of dialogue across the United States. It needs support at the centre too, says Michael Edwards.

The foundation of a healthy civil society, reflects Michael Edwards, is a marriage of two human faculties often undervalued or misunderstood: reason and love.