The globalization of social movements and the liberal order. Political action, civic resistance, democracy

Abstract

As the old organization of politics based upon the Nation-State gave way to national social movements, the emergence of transnational social movements is decisively fostering the contemporary re-definition of post-national politics. In fact, it cannot simply be stated that globalization has produced transnational forms of collective action; globalization is, in part, the outcome of an early transformation of social mobilisation. Be that as it may, it looks as though social theory has not yet responded properly to the current displacement, from national movements, comfortably set up until now in the familiar framework of the Nation-State, to some transnational movements that do not respond to such a well-defined institutional context. This paper attempts to shed some light on these new transnational movements, paying special attention to the anti-globalization movement and a desire to explain its relations with the liberal political order.