International Campaigns in Context: Collective Action between the Local and the Global

Abstract

International campaigns have strongly shaped the image of social movements in the public eye. Protest actions at the most distant places (e.g. the nuclear testing on the Mururoa Atoll in August and September 1995) and forums of non-governmental organizations (NGO) at the international conferences of the United Nations both seem to belong to the routine activism of the international networks of social movements and their organizations. Apparently grass-roots activism is increasingly being replaced by a jet set of NGO diplomats and professional activists who bring some of the exotic flair of the politically engaged ‘global village’ onto our TV screens. The aim of this chapter is to ask whether this representation is adequate, i.e. whether social movements are internationalizing and thus transcending the national and cross-national level to erupt onto a global arena. In particular, the role and structure of political mobilization will be addressed along these lines.¹