Sixty Years of Transnational Civil Society Mobilizations: The Other Side of Global Politics

Sixty Years of Transnational Civil Society Mobilizations: The Other Side of Global Politics offers a new reading of the role played by civil society in global politics over the last few decades. This book tells a story about the lesser-known side of globalization, the non-governmental and civil one, in order to contribute to a better understanding of a phenomenon precisely at the moment of its reconfiguration. The book’s theoretical framework innovatively differentiates transnational mobilizations according to their vision of global politics: civilizations, cosmopolitanism, localism, and neoliberalism. Together with these visions, the book studies the organizational forms, strategies, and the contextual conditions that have allowed for the flourishing of global activism in the last fifty years. From the 1970s, global activism has been an integral part of the western-led process of globalization. Today we are on the verge of deep international transformations: globalization is declining, global governance is undergoing a clear fatigue, while power politics is coming back, at times replacing diplomacy with violence. In such a context, civil society finds it harder to continue to play the same significant role in international affairs. At the end of every political cycle, it is important to develop a deeper awareness of its processes, not just for the sake of knowledge but also because such awareness is essential for facing future challenges. The final part of the book is an exploration of the future opportunities and constraints for global activism in the next decade. Without history we will not be able to write new stories. Sixty Years of Transnational Civil Society Mobilizations will interest students and scholars of global politics, global activism, international affairs, global civil society, and civilizationism.