ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the rise and development of La Vía Campesina as an international peasant movement. It also explores how farmers' organisations came together in LVC as a global movement and united around one clear opponent: the dominance of neo-liberal globalisation as an expression of global capitalism. The chapter then sheds light on the power struggle within global civil society. It presents how LVC has been carving out a space and voice for itself in the international arena as a response to the tendency of others talking in the name of peasants. The chapter examines the organisational functioning of LVC and argues that the movement is building another model that is different to the one predicted by the 'classical path', expecting social movements to develop from loose networks toward increased top-down structures, centralisation and bureaucratization. It shows how LVC seeks to organise around a model that maintains a low degree of institutionalization.
