Citizen engagements in a globalizing world

As the impacts of global forces on everyday life are becoming increasingly apparent, the authors of this introductory chapter to an edited volume ask: if we believe in the ideals of democracy, what are the implications when these extend beyond traditionally understood national and local boundaries? If we are interested in the possibilities of citizen action to claim and ensure rights, and to bring about social change, how do citizens navigate this new, more complicated terrain? Research in the volume is introduced, in which this theme is explored through empirical research in Brazil, India, the Gambia, Nigeria, the Philippines and South Africa, as well as in cross-national projects in Latin America and Africa. The case studies focus on a number of sectors: the environment, trade, education, livelihoods, health and HIV/AIDS, work and occupational disease, agriculture and land. Taking a citizen’s perspective, they look upwards and outwards at shifting global forms of authority and ask whether, in response to these governance changes, citizens themselves are expressing new rights claims on global duty holders, and whether they are expressing new forms of global solidarity with citizens in other localities.

Introductory chapter to book: Globalizing Citizens: New Dynamics of Inclusion and Exclusion.