Civic society in the Network Society

The growth in the number of players transcending national borders goes hand in hand with the decline of the state and territorially approached politics of national interests and political parties. According to some authors (Castells, 1997; 2000; Keck & Sikking, 1998), a new type of societal organisation is emerging: the so-called network society, in which the attributes of the preceding system, i.e., hierarchy and territory, give way to mobility and interconnection of information and virtualisation of communication. CS, represented by networks of organisations, foundations, independent media and communication channels, partners abroad, information, alerts and petitions spread via the internet, has quickly taken advantage of the opportunities offered by the network society.

The protests accompanying the WTO annual general meeting in Seattle were deservedly called the email revolution, as the greater part of the mobilisation of their participants took place within activist networks in North America and globally via email. Organisations such as the RainForest Action Network make use of their partners in developing countries to expose cases of destruction of rainforest, and of modern information technologies for instant access to such information. At meetings with journalists and mining companies’ lobbyists, they are then capable of proving or disproving any controversial statements via fax, email and their people in the field, thus increasing the effectiveness of their campaigns. The Zapatista insurgency in an out-of-the-way state of Chiapas in Southern Mexico would have hardly achieved such renown and international support if the Zapatistas had not been real masters at using information technologies, above all the internet. It is imperative for organisations with global agendas today to join some of the international networks, serving information sharing and rendering their operations more efficient and effective. Organisations such as Friends of the Earth, OXFAM, Greenpeace and others are networks with many branches and busy internal communications. Networking has become the organisational aesthetic of contemporary activism and civil society. Networking has several essential benefits:

1. The network is a horizontal arrangement, difficult to control from a centre and resistant to power pressures.

2. Information can be shared cheaply and efficiently within a network.

3. The network is the ideal setting for quick and effective co-ordination and mobilisation.

4. The network preserves the autonomy of each organisation, subjecting it to little assimilation pressure.