For many commentators, global civil society is revolutionising our approach to global politics, as new non-state-based and border-free expressions of political community challenge territorial sovereignty as the exclusive basis for political community and identity. This challenge 'from below' to the nation-state system is increasingly seen as promising nothing less than a reconstruction, or a re-imagination, of world politics itself. Whether in terms of the democratisation of the
institutions of global governance, the spread of human rights across the world, or the emergence of a global citizenry in a world-wide public sphere, global civil society is understood by many to provide the agency necessary to these hoped-for transformations. Global Civil Society asks whether this idea is such a qualitatively new phenomenon after all; whether the transformation of the states' system is actually within its reach; and what some of its drawbacks might be. This collection bringstogether and clarifies emerging positions on global civil society and the key points of overlap and disagreement between them. The authors explore and critically evaluate a variety of perspectives: the cosmopolitan vision; the view of global civil society as transnational movements advocating a growing moralisation of world politics; the neo-Gramscian approach and the more sceptical views, advancing new possibilities for understanding the role of non-state actors in global politics.This book brings together for the first time the whole range of established and alternative voices on global civil society, both congratulatory and critical, to set a marker for the state of the debate about global civil society today. Many of the authors provide new perspectives on what global civil society means today. This book will prove invaluable for students and researchers in the fields of International Politics, Democratization and Civil Society.
Contents
Introduction:Global civil society and the future of world politics Gideon Baker and David Chandler
Part One: Global Civil Society – Contesting Current Trends
Chapter 1: Global civil society: analytical category or normative concept? Alejandro Colás
Chapter 2: Cosmocracy and global civil society John Keane
Chapter 3: The demoralised subject of global civil society
Vanessa Pupavac
Chapter 4: The changing role of global civil society
Richard Falk
Chapter 5: Contextualising the ‘anti-capitalism’ movement in global civil society
James Heartfield
Part Two: Global Civil Society – Contesting Future Possibilities
Chapter 6: The idea of global civil society
Mary Kaldor
Chapter 7: Saying global civil society with rights
Gideon Baker
Chapter 8: Global civil society: thinking politics and progress
Kimberly Hutchings
Chapter 9: Constructing global civil society
David Chandler
Chapter 10: Global civil society and global governmentality: resistance, reform or resignation?
Ronnie D. Lipschutz
Chapter 11: Global civil society as the politics of faith
Volker Heins
