ABSTRACT
This chapter establishes the social and political role of NGOs and civil society groups/networks through existing critical work on social movements. The political opportunities for social movements refers to the the importance of the broader political system in structuring the opportunities for collective action that is, the opportunities and constraints presented by national political contexts. Marking both similarities and differences across organisation and networks are the communicative practices utilised, and their relationship to mainstream mass media. Green Alliance calls attention to the significance of acknowledging how social norms and values guide our actions. CAFOD is a Catholic faith organisation working to alleviate poverty in over 60 countries worldwide mainly in the global South. CAFOD's photographic and video images of humans, used on its website and printed campaign materials, depict people in urban and rural spaces in both developed and developing countries. As part of its mobilising structure, organisationally CCA (Camp for Climate Action) is non-hierarchical and democratically run.
