Globalizing civic engagement

This book looks at what civil society organisations can achieve and the barriers they face, when they break through national boundaries and out of sectoral moulds to work with others in global networks. Civil society organisations work mostly at national or local levels, but new global organisations and networks are emerging at a rapidly increasing rate. The case studies presented in this book, written by researchers who specialise in civil society, focus on such initiatives, showing how, in an era of globalisation, action at the transnational level can yield impressive results - especially when it comes to influencing and changing government policies and public attitudes.

The range of civil society organisations studied is diverse - embracing formal NGOs (Amnesty International and Oxfam), public advocacy (Consumers' Association and Jubilee 2000), modern forms of citizen mobilisation (World Social Forum and contemporary protest movements) and international trade union federations - but all reveal a remarkably similar array of practical challenges, from structure and leadership issues to governance dilemmas. This book offers practical guidance and theoretical insight to those engaged with civil society organisations in a world of rapid structural and ideological change.

(From LSE press release)