Introducing Global Civil Society

The authors argue that global civil society both feeds on and reacts to globalisation. Like global civil society, 'globalisation' is also a new concept with different meanings. In every day usage it tends to refer to the spread of global capitalism. In the social science literature it is usually defined as growing interconnectedness in political, social, and cultural spheres as well as the economy, something which has been greatly facilitated by travel and communication (see Held et al. 1999). It is also sometimes used to refer to growing global consciousness, the sense of a common community of mankind (Shaw 2000; Robertson 1990).

On the one hand, globalisation provides the bedrock for global civil society, the supply side of the phenomenon that pushes it on. There does seem to be a strong and positive correlation between what one might describe as 'clusters of globalisation' or areas of what Held et al. (1999: 21-5) call 'thick globalisation' and clusters of global civil society. On the other hand global civil society is also a reaction to globalisation, particularly to the consequences of the spread of global capitalism and interconnectedness. Globalisation is an uneven process which has brought benefits to many but which has also excluded many. It is those who are denied access to the benefits of global capitalism and who remain outside the charmed circle of information and communication technology who are the victims of the process and who organise in reaction: the demand pull of global civil society. They are now also linking up with those in the North who form a new kind of solidarity movement.

This new form of activism takes place against the background of the 'development industry' and the spread of INGOs in the South for service delivery and development assistance. But is not only the range and density of INGO networks that matter in relationship to globalisation. Our studies of specific global issues show that global civil society is best categorised not in terms of types of actors but in terms of positions in relation to globalisation. All three of the issue chapters in the Yearbook adopt a similar categorisation of global civil society actors, as shown in the Table 1.4. One way of defining or understanding global civil society is as a debate about the future direction of globalisation and perhaps humankind itself.

[Excerpt taken from the Centre for Civil Society webpage www.lse.ac.uk/Depts/ccs/]