Global civil society and its limits/edited by Gordon Laxer and Sandra Helperin

Global Civil Society and its Limits looks critically at whether a global civil society is in the making. The contributors examine the issues around the subject and a range of interesting case studies on current social justice movements, including those involving human rights, trade unions, and anti-corporate globalization. They show that while the Internet has emerged as an exciting new way for activists to communicate across borders, and citizens' movements increasingly co-ordinate through transnational advocacy networks, there is little evidence that a genuine global civil society is emerging. Furthermore, many argue that rather than promoting grass-roots or bottom-up democracy, the dream of global civil society may in fact weaken the most powerful resistance to globalization from above. The most effective civic actions still largely take place where they have long been - at national and local levels.