Global Civil Society Movements

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

This country study attempts to integrate the perspectives of resource mobilization and new social movement theories. Hence, it examines the following:

Institutional context and policy environment for civil society mobilization

Assessment of prospects of civil society movements requires looking at the broader political environment in which they are embedded. While civil society movements are in part conditioned by structural constraints, they respond to these limitations in various capacities, thus creating opportunities or spaces for maneuver.

Networks, resources, and strategies

The case studies explore the organizational forms, methods of action, and mobilization strategies of civil society movements in pursuing their collective interests. These include the forms and levels of interaction both with their social base, on one hand, and transnational movements on the other. Assessment is based not only on effectiveness and capacity for sustained action, but also on democratic governance, participation, and accountability.

Framing processes for collective action and collective identity formation

While engaging the state is an important task of civil society movements, civil society itself remains an important arena of struggle. Framing is shaped both by internal aspects of civil society organizations (and their conscious efforts) as well as the broader environmental context (i.e. the existing cultural complex and reactions of other institutional actors: the state, the media, and, counter-movements).