Electronic citizenship and global social movements

Abstract

This paper is an attempt at a more systematic study of the impact of new social movements on participatory politics and citizenship at a European level. It presents the empirical findings from my work on ecological NGOs and addresses the following questions: * In what ways is the Internet conducive to discursive democracy when used by grassroots organizations, and more specifically by environmental groups in Finland, the Netherlands, Spain, Britain and Greece? * What kind of information is offered on the Web sites of some environmental organizations in the five countries? * How is this related with the level of Internet development in these countries? It concludes that ecological organizations use the Internet for publicity purposes and for diffusion of information mainly, while the dimensions of discursive, interactive communication and the establishment of 'nexuses of global action' are still underplayed.