Global Civil Society

Two Views of Global Civil Society

With this brief background, global civil society has two distinct variants: (1) libertarian global civil society is the view of civil society within a regional or international perspective, so that “community” is broadened beyond national borders, yet must still be reconciled with the needs of individuals; whereas (2) communitarian global civil society sees the balance as between various national or subnational actors as the individuals and community as the broader regional or global community. This latter view is most common. Both views are grounded in an ecological perspective in that the ecology of a particular policy issue drives both the definition of community and the sense of the relevant individuals or institutions. In either case, nongovernmental organizations play an active role in helping define and express the wishes of the general public, although it may be said that the public is inherently a limited stratum of society that is concerned about a specific policy issue.

Globalization and Interdependence

Robert L. Kahn argued that the interdependence of individuals and of nations is extensive, and that organizations mediate these relationships. The dynamics at play include

• corporations whose gross revenues exceed the gross national product of all but a few dozen nations;
• the mobility of goods and services fueled by drastically reduced shipping, transportation, and communications costs;
• foundations such as the Ford Foundation, the Pew Charitable Trusts, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, and [Page 342]others that use their assets to leverage change throughout the world;
• the creation of regional and international organizations such as the Pacific Salmon Commission, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the EU, the World Bank, and many others that bridge the gaps between national interests and the need for collective action; and
• a free flow of information throughout most of the world via the Internet and widely distributed news outlets such as newspaper, radio, and television news.

Although there are numerous supporters for both the globalization and antiglobalization movements, few would argue that individuals and NGOs do not play an active role in today's globalization. Rather than spell the end of the nation-state, a global civil society has clearly emerged wherein governments need private-sector and nonprofit supporters to get things done, and the private sector also needs government and nonprofit supporters to be productive and profitable. Ali Farazmand argued that in the modern international environment capitalism and democracy do not necessarily go hand-in-hand, and so corporate powers are colonizing some parts of the world in much the same way that Great Britain, France, Spain, and others originally colonized much of the world. Frequently, this occurs with the tacit consent and support of an authoritarian government or a government seeking to follow the Western model of privatization.

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