Global Citizen Action. (Book Reviews). (book review)

Journal of Development Studies, April, 2002 by Kiely, Ray

Global Citizen Action. Edited by Michael Edwards and John Gaventa. London: Earthscan, 2001. Pp.327. [pounds sterling]45 and [pounds sterling]14.95. ISBN 1 85383 834 9 and 833 0

This highly readable collection focuses on the issue of global civil society. This is (rather narrowly) defined as 'the arena in which people come together to advance their interests they hold in common, not for profit or political power, but because they care enough about something to take collective action' (Edwards, p.2). There is an immediate problem with this definition. The focus of the book is on NGOs and social movements. Such movements are certainly a key part of global civil society, but are not all of it. I see no reason why global capital and international institutions should...

Read the rest of this article with a Free Trial at HighBeam Research.

Premium Content Partnership | HighBeam Research provides an in-depth online archive library of reference works.