Reshaping world politics: NGOs, the Internet, and global civil society

• Main Author: FLORINI, Ann
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2002
• Subjects: Political Science
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/2437; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/3694/viewcontent/Reshaping_world_politics_BkRev_2002.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

This largely descriptive book sets out three questions of interest to international relations scholars and policy-makers: What is global civil society? What are its origins? And what are the roles of individuals in creating and maintaining it? After a brief literature review, the book provides a definition: global civil society is 'a socially constructed and transnationally defined network of relationships that provides ideologically variable channels of opportunity for political involvement' (p. 19). This definition reflects the book's grounding in 'people-centered' International Relations theory, drawing on the English school of Wight and Bull and paralleling the American constructivist paradigm to focus on agency as well as structure. It then examines eight Northern non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as exemplars of how global civil society is creating itself with heavy reliance on the Internet. All are progressive advocacy organizations: three environmental, three development-focused, and two 'online resource networks' that attempt to serve the communications and information needs of large NGO networks.