Civil Society, Post-Colonialism and Transnational Solidarity originates from Louvet’s observation of the strong commitment of a layer of Irish civil society- from the man on the street to political parties, associations and trade unions- to the defence of one antagonist or the other in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, beginning with the Six Day War in 1967 and increasingly so after the Lebanon Wars at the start of the 1980s and the Second Intifada (2000-2005). This book observes how this phenomenon is particularly striking in Northern Ireland, where Israeli and Palestinian flags have been flown by Unionists and Nationalists as signs of solidarity and identification. Louvet sheds light on the dynamics and strategies at play in the Middle East conflict in Northern Ireland but also in the Republic of Ireland, a country considered to be widely sympathetic to the Palestinian cause. With an overarching perspective highlighting the influence of Irish colonial history over the motives and discourse of the different levels of mobilization in civil society, this book shows the global movement towards the fragmentation and specialization of transnational solidarity actions in Ireland.

This book provides a critical investigation of what has been termed the ‘global justice movement’. Through a detailed study of a grassroots peasants’ network in Asia (People’s Global Action), an international trade union network (the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mining and General Workers) and the Social Forum process, it analyses some of the global justice movement’s component parts, operational networks and their respective dynamics, strategies and practices. The authors argue that the emergence of new globally-connected forms of collective action against neoliberal globalisation are indicative of a range of place-specific forms of political agency that coalesce across geographic space at particular times, in specific places, and in a variety of ways. Rather than being indicative of a coherent ‘movement’, the authors argue that such forms of political agency contain many political and geographical fissures and fault-lines, and are best conceived of as ‘global justice networks’: overlapping, interacting, competing, and differentially-placed and resourced networks that articulate demands for social, economic and environmental justice. Such networks, and the social movements that comprise them, characterise emergent forms of trans-national political agency. The authors argue that the role of key geographical concepts of space, place and scale are crucial to an understanding of the operational dynamics of such networks. Such an analysis challenges key current assumptions in the literature about the emergence of a global civil society.

This open access collection is devoted to an in-depth, qualitative analysis of practices of cross-national solidarity in response to the current political and social crises, from citizens’ initiatives to networks of cooperation among civil society actors. The book analyses existing informal groups at the grassroots, furthering transnational solidarity in three thematic areas: disability, unemployment and immigration. Contributions assess how civic groups respond to the various crises affecting Europe, especially the economic and refugee crises, presenting new findings from a systematic comparative study conducted in eight European countries (Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Switzerland, and the UK). The research will be of interest to scholars, students, journalists, policy-makers and activists interested in civil society, social movements, charitable actions, altruism and solidarity, as well as European studies and the socio-economic challenges of current European crises.

* Features a perspective of both developing and industrialized countries * For a wide audience including academics, undergraduate and graduate students, researchers and practitioners The growing impact of cross-border civil society networks and campaigns on global policy has made transnational civil society an increasingly important phenomenon. Transnational Civil Society: An Introduction provides a clear and accessible introduction to the history, characteristics, and achievements of influential transnational civil society networks, coalitions, and movements. Editors Srilatha Batliwala and L. David Brown provide an in-depth analysis of the forces that have shaped transnational activism: globalism, economic and political power structures, and cross-border organization by non-state actors. Important transnational movements that have shaped our world - labor, environment, human rights, women's rights, peace, and economic justice - are also described and analyzed. The contributors are globally experienced activist-scholars and reflective practitioners discussing both developing and industrialized countries. For students, practitioners, and activists alike, Transnational Civil Society: An Introduction offers comprehensible descriptions of transnational initiatives working toward effective and sustainable solutions to some of the critical challenges facing our world.

The Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) is world's largest civil society movement fighting against poverty and inequality. This book explores GCAP's power as a global actor and its embodiment of emancipatory change. Drawing on a wide range of social and political theory, it features case studies on Malawi and India.

How did civil society function as a locus for reconciliation initiatives since the beginning of the 20th century? The essays in this volume challenge the conventional understanding of reconciliation as a benign state-driven process. They explore how a range of civil society actors - from Turkish intellectuals apologizing for the Armenian Genocide to religious organizations working towards the improvement of Franco-German relations - have confronted and coped with the past. These studies offer a critical perspective on local and transnational reconciliation acts by questioning the extent to which speech became an alternative to silence, remembrance to forgetting, engagement to oblivion.

Recent years have seen the Israeli state become ever more extreme in its treatment of Palestinians, manifested both in legislation stripping Palestinians of their rights and in the escalating scale and violence of the Israeli occupation. But this hard-line stance has in turn provoked a new spirit of dissent among a growing number of Israeli scholars and civil society activists. As well as recognising Palestinian claims to justice and self determination, this new dissent is characterised by calls for genuine decolonisation and an end to partition, as opposed to the now discredited 'two state solution.' Through the analytical lens of settler colonial studies, this book examines the impact of this new 'decolonial solidarity' through case studies of three activist groups: Zochrot, Anarchists Against the Wall, and the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD). In doing so, Todorova extends the framework of settler colonial studies beyond scholarly analysis and into the realm of activist practice. She also looks at how decolonial solidarity has shaped, and been influenced by, the writings of both Palestinian and Israeli theorists. The book shows that new forms of civil society activism, bringing together Palestinian and Israeli activists, can rejuvenate the resistance to occupation and the Israeli state's growing authoritarianism.