Global Social Movement(s) at the Crossroads: Some Observations on the Trajectory of the Anti-Corporate Globalization Movement

This paper examines the major structural characteristics of the anti-corporate globalization movement, its key bases & antecedents, its relationship with other global social movements (GSMs) & the key challenges it faces in the post-9/11 period. We suggest that despite the potential of the anti-corporate globalization movement to usher in major social changes, the movement faces a number of major crossroads in terms of ideology, discursive approach, & overall strategy. We argue that there has been coalescence of a good many GSMs, including the international environmental movement, under the banner of the anti-corporate globalization movement. We focus primarily on the interrelations of these two GSMS, noting that over the past decade there have been trends toward both the "environmentalization" & "de-environmentalization" of the anti-corporate globalization movement. While the defection of many mainstream environmental groups from the "Washington consensus" & the resulting environmentalization of the trade & globalization issue were critical to the "Seattle coalition," there has been a significant decline in the movement's embrace of environmental claims & discourses, & a corresponding increase in its use of social justice discourses. One implication of our analysis is the hypothesis that while the current vitality of the anti-corporate globalization movement can be gauged by its having adopted an increasingly coherent ideological stance in which international inequality & global corporate dominance are targeted, to be successful the movement will need to coherently ideologically integrate social justice with environmental & sustainability agendas. The amenability of the environmental GSM to such ideological integration will have important ramifications for the future trajectory of the anti-corporate globalization movement. 53 References. Adapted from the source document.