Civil Society in the Information Age

Peter I. Hajnal is a Research Associate, Trinity College, Research Associate, Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto, Canada

• Contents: Introduction, Peter I. Hajnal. NGOS and Civil Society Coalitions: Information and communication technologies and human rights advocacy: the case of Amnesty International, Joanne Lebert; Scientists and missile defence: organizing against a dangerous plan, John Spykerman; Oxfam International, Peter I. Hajnal; The working life of Southern NGOs: juggling the promise of information and communications technologies and the perils of relationships with international NGOs, Juris Dilevko; Essential partners: landmines-related NGOs and information technologies, Kenneth R. Rutherford; The power of global activist networks: the campaign for an international criminal court, William R. Pace and Rik Panganiban; AIDS, Médecins Sans Frontiéres, and access to essential medicines, James Orbinski. Civil society relationship with intergovernmental institutions: the United Nations and civil society, Barbara Adams; Thoughts on religious NGOs at the UN: a component of global civil society, Benjamin Rivlin; Expanding the trade debate: the role of information in WTO and civil society interaction, Heidi K. Ullrich; Citizen involvement in Canadian foreign policy: the summit of the Americas experience, Quebec City, April 2001, Marc Lortie and Sylvie Bédard; Civil society encounters the G7/G8, Peter I. Hajnal; Conclusion, Peter I. Hajnal; Electronic sources, Peter I. Hajnal and Gillian R. Clinton; Bibliography, Peter I. Hajnal and Gillian R. Clinton; Index.

’This book offers fresh insights into the role of information and communications technology in the functioning of civil society groups. The book includes a rich array of studies on important NGOs and civil society coalitions, and on the relationship between civil society and intergovernmental institutions.’ Theodore H. Cohn, Simon Fraser University, Canada ’The rapidly growing literature on civil society will be significantly enhanced by this collection of studies on the impact of information and communication technology on this new movement. The book is especially valuable in presenting a range of case studies which demonstrate the wide and diverse scope of the civil society organizations, their agendas and modes of operation, and is essential reading for both experts and the broader public who may be unaware that Seattle on CNN is only one part of a complex, evolving component of globalization.’ Sylvia Ostry, Distinguished Research Fellow, University of Toronto, Canada ’In this timely book Peter Hajnal and other researchers probe the question of how information and communication technology and the civil society movements influence the contemporary global political process. The book’s fruitful conjunction of theoretical frameworks and empirical studies will provide new insights to the global society. Anyone interested in the evolving impacts of the ICT and NGOs will be stimulated by reading this book.’ Professor Junichi Takase, Nagoya University of Foreign Studies, Japan. ’A welcome addition to the civil society library, this volume of case studies explores as few others have done the role of ICT in global advocacy work.’ Professor Jan Aart Scholte, Centre for the Study of Globalization and Regionalization, University of Warwick ’Information is power. In the last twenty years, citizens’ movements have used information to expose, mobilize and persuade. Doing so, they have irreversibly altered the relationship between we citizens and t