Global civil society and community exchanges
A different form of movement
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12242510 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Michael B Edwards (0000-0003-0974-4009, Ford Foundation, corresponding author), Michael Edwards (0000-0002-5392-2901, Governance and Civil Society Programme at the Ford Foundation) |
| Year | 2001 |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 145-149 |
| Publication date | 2001-10-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Environment and Urbanization (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0956-2478 • E-ISSN: 1746-0301 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/095624780101300212 |
| OpenAlex | W2078794230 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
THE RISE OF global citizen action has been one of the most striking features of the post Cold War world, marked by increasingly powerful transnational NGO networks and global social movements that have already changed forever the terms of public debate on globalization. The recent successes of these networks are well documented,(1) including the landmines campaign, Jubilee 2000 and the burgeoning international movement to promote access to low-cost drugs for HIV/Aids and other killer diseases. However, and especially after the violent gridlock of the G8 summit meetings in Genoa, Italy, there is a more sombre mood to these celebrations, a more critical atmosphere within global civil society networks about their strengths and weaknesses, and increasing questions about legitimacy, accountability and structure. In this article, I want to look briefly at whether movements such as Shack/Slum Dwellers International (SDI) and similar community to community exchanges can shed light on these questions, and their answers. Can they provide useful models for the future, as global citizen action continues to evolve? The rise of SDI is well documented in the literature(2) and I won’t attempt to describe this remarkable story in any detail here. Since 1990, slum and shack dwellers in Asia, South Africa and elsewhere have supported a gradually expanding programme of direct, community to community exchanges aimed at transforming the lives and livelihoods of urban citizens. This movement (since that is what is has become) has since grown to include over 650,000 people in 11 countries. SDI has also sparked the emergence of similar exchanges between other communities, including home-based and street-based workers and communities affected by multinational mining operations. What makes these movements different from most other transnational citizen networks is that the locus of power and authority lies and is kept in the communities themselves rather than in intermediary NGOs at the national and international levels. This is partly because SDI and its counterparts were not set up to influence global policy-making or lobby the international financial institutions (though they are now playing an increasing role in doing both these things). Rather, they aimed to promote practical solidarity, mutual support and the exchange of useful information about development strategies and concrete alternatives among their Michael Edwards is Director of the Governance and Civil Society Programme at the Ford Foundation. Prior to joining the Foundation, he was the senior civil society specialist at the World Bank in Washington DC. He spent 15 years as a manager working in international relief and development NGOs. His most recent book is Future Positive: International Cooperation in the 21st Century
Civil society · Economic growth · Economics · Movement (music · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Sociology · Community Development and Social Impact · Law · Public Administration · Tourism, Volunteerism, and Development
| Unique citing works | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,21 |
| Citation span | 2002 - 2022 (21) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |