ABSTRACT
Global social movements (GSMs) are networks that collaborate across borders to advance thematically similar agendas throughout the world and in doing so have become powerful actors in global governance. It is conceivable that representative and democratic GSMs help democratize public global governance bodies by bringing marginalized perspectives to an otherwise elite decision-making table. The chapter presents the argument that GSMs are important actors in global governance, and that how GSMs are organized has implications for their affect on democracy in global affairs. It demonstrates a framework for analyzing representation in GSMs, and discusses the implications of non-representative GSMs on global governance. The literature makes a convincing case that GSMs do not operate as democratic bodies, thus calling into question the capacity of GSMs to democratize global governance. Movement-level analysis of individual GSMs provides the information required to compensate for such representational deficiencies, allowing states and movements alike to leverage movements as democratizing forces in global governance.
