How global change affects civil society

In this book, John Clark presents the findings of the London School of Economics' Centre for Civil Society after several years of research in the field of globalisation and civil society. The result is a simple and authoritative description of the challenges faced by CSOs at the beginning of the 21st century. Part II - in particular, Chapter 6 - addresses the question of how CSOs might use networks to redress the 'democracy deficit' associated with globalisation. The underlying argument is that if CSOs are to be successful in influencing pro-poor policy, then they must make the shift from competition to cooperation - and networking is highly relevant to this task.

In Chapter 6 ('Civil society in the network era'), Clark applies business sector organisational theory to the world of CSOs. He identifies three stages of organisational development: 'unitary form', 'multi-dimensional form'; and 'network form', where network form is the highest state of existence for an organisation. Although not without risks (revealed in a case study on Amnesty International), achieving network form offers great potential benefits to CSOs - particularly in four areas: working globally; managing information; managing strategic partnerships with new allies; and responding rapidly. In order to succeed in reaping these benefits, a network must overcome internal cultural divides and also draw a balance between micro and macro incentives. Hence: 'The network age does not just mean working with like-minded groups in neighbouring countries, it means building radically new partnerships - inside or outside civil society - to tackle issues that would be immovable without those alliances.'