ABSTRACT
As the leaders of the G8 (the seven major democratic industrialised countries plus Russia) gathered on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa for their annual summit from 21 to 23 July 2000, throngs of members and supporters of local and international civil society groups assembled near the site of the meeting. While thousands of protesters formed a human chain around the huge U.S. military base, other representatives of civil society engaged in dialogue with representatives of summitcountry governments and news media personnel, gave news conferences, and issued press releases and bulletins over the internet. This was but the latest stage of the progress of a significant and proliferating phenomenon of international life.
