Page 232 - Contemporary Political Sociology Globalization Politics and Power

218 Globalization and Democracy

globalization ” : it involves a turning away altogether from formal politics
at state and international level to the democratization of everyday life.
The second I call “ deliberative globalization ” : the strategy to democratize
international political institutions and to establish popular consultation
and dialogue over the content of their policy agendas. The third strategy
for democratizing globalization I call “ conditional globalization ” : it
involves working through internationalizing states to alter conditions of
democratic engagement within and across state borders. In practice, dif-
ferent parts of social movement networks, and even the same people in
some cases, may be engaged in more than one of these strategies even
though, in their purest forms, they are contradictory. It is useful to sepa-
rate them out here for analytic purposes, in order to consider the way
each is grounded in quite different claims for democratic legitimacy.

Alternative g lobalization

Alternative globalization is summed up in the slogan “ Another world is
possible! ” Quite simply, it involves the creation of a range of alternatives
to global capitalism. These include ways of living as far as possible outside
the capitalist economy: living on little money by living communally and/
or squatting, setting up Local Economic Trading Schemes to exchange
goods and services outside capitalist markets, working in cooperatives, or

finding jobs in small businesses or political organizations that promote
alternative ideals and practices (see Gibson - Graham, 2002 ). It also involves

finding ways to communicate and network transnationally outside the
commercial media. For example, the invention of Indymedia, a grassroots
forum for reporting news from around the world that would not be
reported by the mainstream news agencies, or (in the case of protests
against neo - liberal globalization) that is consistently misreported, draws
together a volunteer force of journalists, photographers, and video - makers
and operates on a shoestring budget to preserve its independence (Allan,
2006 ; Castells, 2009 ). The World Social Forum (WSF) is an example of
alternative political organization. Although, as a “ movement of move-
ments, ” the WSF also includes groups engaged in “ deliberative globaliza-
tion ” within it, the WSF itself is an innovative space for activists of all
kinds to meet face - to - face to exchange knowledge, learn practical skills,
network with other activists and develop strategies that are relevant in
their own situations (De Sousa Santos, 2006 : 122). Finally, alternative
globalization is associated with innovative forms of protest that graphi-
cally demonstrate different ways of living at the same time as drawing
attention to global issues. Invariably involving the occupation of spaces in