ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to uncover the complex political discourses that put forward by social movement networks and institutions that operate under the auspices of global civil society. It reviews the complex idea of civil society of global civil society and discusses the dynamics of the global civil society movement, particularly in respect of its critique of global capitalism. Activist efforts to reframe civil society around a Gramscian politics reignited longstanding tensions over its relationship to the marketplace. For theories of cosmopolitanism, and critical approaches to 'cosmopolitics', it should be clear that global civil society is a concept crucial to its inception. This is because global civil society represents a fundamentally social engagement with the effects of globalization. The anti-globalization movement would be wary of the idea of a cosmopolitan state, steeped as they are in histories of civil society struggles against hegemonic states claiming socialist legitimacy.
