Global citizenship refers to the still poorly developed capacity for civil society to extend beyond a country’s boundaries and take on transnational features in areas such as: communication; development of shared values and mutual respect; coordination of economic, social and environmental policy expectations; and advocacy and political campaigning (Muetzelfeldt & Smith, 2002, p.61).
Global civil society is characterized by global or regional interconnections and
networks outside business and government. It is analytically distinct from
emerging systems of global governance, but is also in complex interrelationship s
with these state-like activities at a global level, and with the global economy.
Like national civil society, global civil society is embodied in associational
activity—although in this case it is activity that extends across national
boundaries (Muetzelfeldt & Smith, 2002, p.62).
Both global citizenship and global civil society deal with global community and global issues.
Required Readings:
• Held, David (2004). A globalizing society? A globalizing world? Cultures, economics, policies. Routledge.
• Green (2012). Global Citizenship: What are we talking about and why does it matter?
• Muetzelfeldt, M. & Smith G. (2002). Civil Society and Global Governance: The possibilities for Global Citizenship, Citizenship Studies, 6:1, 55-75.
• Oliviero, M. B., & Simmons, A. (2002). Who’s minding the store? Global civil society and corporate responsibility. Global civil society, 2002, 77-107.
Also of Interest:
• Weiss (2009), What Happened to the Idea of World Government?” International Studies Quarterly, 53 (No 2, 2009).
• Anderson, K., & Rieff, D. (2005). ‘Global civil society’: a skeptical view.
Assignment:
With your own understanding and experiences, define global citizenship and global civil society. Discuss why the global citizenship/global civil society is important despite the multiple unsolved national issues that need to be addressed. Why does global citizenship/global civil society matter?
