Interest in the concept of civil society has undergone a remarkable renaissance in the 1990s. It is currrently seen as a potential tool to overcome some of the main theoretical and political stalemates. But what exactly does the concept of civil society mean ? Can civil society really be a...

This collection examines the ways in which social movements in the Global South are rejecting the prevailing narratives of globalization and providing new ways of imagining social change. In the process, it opens up a radical new direction for development studies.

The volume challenges dominant narratives of progress with a rich range of investigations of local struggles from the Global south which are based on original ethnographic research. The chapters take a point of departure in ideas and concepts developed by the pioneering anthropologist Eric R....