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Seeking to extend the debate on the diversity of democracy, this book provides the reader with a comprehensive account of how two different global actors, the European Union and the World Social Forum respond to the challenges of globalization with various models of democracy and modes of cooperation at the transnational level.
Analysing EU democracy assistance in the EU's neighbourhood, Fiedlschuster sheds light on the complex relationship between the EU and civil society. Although the EU perceives a vital civil society as crucial for democracy, its mix of a governance approach with deliberative and participatory democracy will unlikely result in a citizen-centred democracy.
The book also provides a compelling account of the World Social Forum and its participants interviewed for this work attempt to answer one of the challenges of contemporary globalization: How can civil society pursue democratically global social change? Fiedlschuster skilfully deploys varioussociological approaches not only to analyse concepts and practices of democracy by transnational activists but also to throw light on the tensions between democratic idealism and anti-democratic tendencies in the Forum. This book will be of wide interest to students and academics, including those working within political sociology, European Union politics, and globalization.
List of contents
1. Introduction: Democracy and Globalization.- 2. EU Democracy Assistance: Continuity and Conceptual Changes.- 3. EU Concepts of Democracy and Civil Society.- 4. The World Social Forum and Approaches to Global Civil Society.- 5. A Neo-Gramscian Reading of Global Civil Society and the World Social Forum.- 6. Meeting Democracy: Organizational Structures and Models of Democracy in the World Social Forum.- 7. Partial Organization and the Quest for Democracy: The International Council of the World Social Forum.- 8. Towards a Conclusion: Globalization Processes and the 'Crisis of Democracy'.
About the author
Micha Fiedlschusterholds a PhD in Global Studies from Leipzig University, Germany. His research combines his interests in social movement research, European and Global studies and democratic theory.
Summary
Provides a Neo-Gramscian reading of the World Social Forum and ‘Global Civil Society’
Critically evaluates the changing character of the relationship between the EU and civil society organizations
Considers social movements and the World Social Forum as sources of innovation for global institutions and as possible watchdogs of political and economic elites
Additional text
“The book is well argued, well organized and written in a clear and accessible style. It makes a particularly valuable contribution with its close analysis of the organizational processes and dilemmas of the WSF and how these reflect the challenges that it faces in establishing a coherent counter-hegemonic project while at the same time putting it on a firmly democratic foundation.” (Marek Mikuš, Journal of World Systems Research, Vol. 26 (1), 2020)
Report
"The book is well argued, well organized and written in a clear and accessible style. It makes a particularly valuable contribution with its close analysis of the organizational processes and dilemmas of the WSF and how these reflect the challenges that it faces in establishing a coherent counter-hegemonic project while at the same time putting it on a firmly democratic foundation." (Marek Mikus, Journal of World Systems Research, Vol. 26 (1), 2020)
