Since 'global' and 'civil society' have become commonplace in the last decade, one of the main questions that is article tries to address is their meaning and their relationship. On the analytical ground, the concept of international civil society enables one to grasp structural changes in world politics. As far the empirical challenge is concerned, a "third generation" of Transnational Studies has developed a new framework of analysis of the impact of transnational social movements and/or NGOs on the international decision-making process. On the normative ground, the reference to global or transnational civil society has become topical in recent scholarly debates. With regard to this. IR studies try to come to grips with one of the most disputed issues in the "global governance discourse", that is, the question of democratization of international governance. In this context, transnational civil society actors are considered the main source of legitimacy in the international decision making process. The main aim of this article is to show how, whatever the terminology, be it international, global or transnational, this concept is by now part of the IR analytical toolkit. The article proceeds through three steps. Firstly it carries out a literature review about conceptual definitions of civil society. Secondly, it describes types of actors and modes of action in the transnational arena, also reporting the findings of LSE research team on Global Civil Society. Thirdly, this article tries to shaw in which terms and to what extent the "paradigm" of deliberative democracy and public sphere in world politics (which have moved on the central stage of the normative and theoretical debate in IR), can be connected to global civil society issue. In the context, the last stage of the normative and theoretical debate in IR), can be connected to global civil society issue. In this context, the last part the paper tries illustrate analytically, the possibility of referring to a specific mode of governance, i.e., to a form of government rationality, or governmentality, recognizable in world politics. What we have here in this case, is the opportunity to distinguish a specific part, the cognitive-communicative part, of social construction processes of international politics.

International Civil Society within the Theory of International Relations

LO SCHIAVO, Lidia
2011-01-01

Abstract

Since 'global' and 'civil society' have become commonplace in the last decade, one of the main questions that is article tries to address is their meaning and their relationship. On the analytical ground, the concept of international civil society enables one to grasp structural changes in world politics. As far the empirical challenge is concerned, a "third generation" of Transnational Studies has developed a new framework of analysis of the impact of transnational social movements and/or NGOs on the international decision-making process. On the normative ground, the reference to global or transnational civil society has become topical in recent scholarly debates. With regard to this. IR studies try to come to grips with one of the most disputed issues in the "global governance discourse", that is, the question of democratization of international governance. In this context, transnational civil society actors are considered the main source of legitimacy in the international decision making process. The main aim of this article is to show how, whatever the terminology, be it international, global or transnational, this concept is by now part of the IR analytical toolkit. The article proceeds through three steps. Firstly it carries out a literature review about conceptual definitions of civil society. Secondly, it describes types of actors and modes of action in the transnational arena, also reporting the findings of LSE research team on Global Civil Society. Thirdly, this article tries to shaw in which terms and to what extent the "paradigm" of deliberative democracy and public sphere in world politics (which have moved on the central stage of the normative and theoretical debate in IR), can be connected to global civil society issue. In the context, the last stage of the normative and theoretical debate in IR), can be connected to global civil society issue. In this context, the last part the paper tries illustrate analytically, the possibility of referring to a specific mode of governance, i.e., to a form of government rationality, or governmentality, recognizable in world politics. What we have here in this case, is the opportunity to distinguish a specific part, the cognitive-communicative part, of social construction processes of international politics.
2011
Quaderni di Economia, Statistica e Analisi del Territorio
9788897244110
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11570/1945042
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