The global citizens movement is a constellation of organized and overlapping citizens' groups seeking to foster global solidarity in policy and consciousness. The term is often used synonymously with the

anti-globalization movement The anti-globalization movement, or counter-globalization movement, is a social movement critical of economic globalization. The movement is also commonly referred to as the global justice movement, alter-globalization movement, anti-globalist m ...

or the

global justice movement The global justice movement is a network of globalization, globalized social movements demanding global justice by opposing what is often known as the “Economic globalization, corporate globalization” and promoting equal distribution of econo ...

Background

The concept of

global citizenship Global citizenship is a form of transnationality, specifically the idea that one's identity transcends geography or political borders and that responsibilities or rights are derived from membership in a broader global class of "humanity". This do ...

first emerged in the 4th Century BCE among the Greek Cynics, who coined the term “

cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Internationalism * World citizen, one who eschews traditional geopolitical divisions derived from national citizenship * Cosmopolitanism, the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community * Cosmopolitan ...

” – meaning ''citizen of the world''. The

Stoics Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy that flourished in ancient Greece and Rome. The Stoics believed that the universe operated according to reason, ''i.e.'' by a God which is immersed in nature itself. Of all the schools of ancient ...

later elaborated on the concept, and contemporary philosophers and political theorists have further developed it in the concept of

cosmopolitanism Cosmopolitanism is the idea that all human beings are members of a single community. Its adherents are known as cosmopolitan or cosmopolite. Cosmopolitanism is both prescriptive and aspirational, believing humans can and should be " world citizen ...

, which proposes that all individuals belong to a single moral community. The twenty-first century has seen increasing calls for global citizenship in light of how transportation and technology—are binding disparate parts of the world more closely together than ever before. Authors as Paul Raskin, Paul H. Ray,

David Korten David C. Korten (born 1937) is an American author, former professor of the Harvard Business School, Activism, political activist, prominent critic of corporate globalization, and "by training and inclination a student of psychology and behavioral ...

, and Gus Speth have argued for the existence of a latent pool of tens of millions of people ready to identify with a global consciousness, such as that captured in the Earth Charter. Organizations such as

Oxfam International Oxfam is a British-founded confederation of 21 independent non-governmental organizations (NGOs), focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International. It began as the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief ...

believe that a global citizens movement rooted in social and economic justice is emerging and is necessary for ending global poverty. The Global Scenario Group likewise identified such a movement as the key change agent in a Great Transition to a socially and ecologically sustainable future. A more recently formed group vying for a sustainable global future through international unification via an international federation are the Young World Federalists. A global citizens movement would differ from the existing fragmented civil society organizations and social movements in that such campaigns and movements tend to be issue-specific rather than united in a shared struggle for a socially just and ecologically sustainable global society and the establishment of an institutional structure to support it.

Critiques

Skeptics of the notion of a global citizens movement question whether or not a high enough level of global solidarity can emerge in light of nationalism, racism, and the dominance of the Westphalian state system. However, other scholars point out that the historical emergence of nationalism must have felt just as improbable in a time of warring city-states, and yet in retrospect appears inevitable. In their book Multitude, Michael Hardt and

Antonio Negri Antonio Negri (; ; 1 August 1933 – 16 December 2023) was an Italian political philosopher known as one of the most prominent theorists of autonomism, as well as for his co-authorship of ''Empire (Hardt and Negri book), Empire'' with Michae ...

offer a more radical critique that posits

Michel Foucault Paul-Michel Foucault ( , ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French History of ideas, historian of ideas and Philosophy, philosopher who was also an author, Literary criticism, literary critic, Activism, political activist, and teacher. Fo ...

's notion of a “plurality of resistance” as the only legitimate path forward.Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, ''Multitude: War and Democracy in the Age of Empire'' (London: Penguin Books, 2004); Michel Foucault, ''The History of Sexuality'' (New York: Vintage Books, 1980). Instead of leadership and organizational structures, Hardt and Negri put faith in the emergence of spontaneous coherence due to self-organized networks among various autonomous resistance movements. However, it remains unclear how a network of autonomous movements would differ in practice from a global citizens movement.

Notes

External links

Great Transition Initiative
��the GTI Paper Series and framework offers further context for discussion of a Global Citizens Movement
Encyclopedia of the Earth
��has an entry on the Global Citizens Movement under the category of Sustainable Development {{DEFAULTSORT:Global Citizens Movement Community building Activism Alter-globalization Global civilization Social movements Cosmopolitanism Global culture

Background

Critiques

See also

Notes

Further reading

External links