ABSTRACT
Richard Falk loves giraffes. With their long necks but no vocal cords, Richard considers them an apt metaphor for wisdom: giraffes can see far but can't speak. Sadly, too many of us practice the opposite. Giraffe politics has led Richard to search for spheres of collective life that offer purchase points that can transcend political and emotional near-sightedness. One realm Richard has explored is the political potential of civil society. Civil society is that slice of social life that is analytically distinct from the state and the economy wherein people can organize themselves around shared interests, purposes, and values and pursue collective action. While a champion of global civil society, Richard has never exaggerated its counter-hegemonic promise. His vast scholarship over the years has clearly understood the amount of sheer power, momentum, and hegemonic weight embodied in the Westphalian, capitalist world order and its contemporary globalized existence.
