This book provides a conceptual history of global civil society and a critical examination of the politics of resistance in the global political economy. Using a Gramscian approach, it offers insight to the movements of transversal hegemony and existent and anticipated modes of social relation, with case studies on the World Social Forum and the World People's Conference on Climate Change.

1. Introduction: Globalization and Contestation 2. Critical Conceptualisation and Transversal Hegemony 3. Producing Knowledge through Global Civil Society 4. Constituting Global Civil Society through Global Governance 5. 'Dialectics of Presence' at the World Social Forum 6. Situating Global Consciousness and Contestation at the World People's Conference 7. Contestation and Change 8. Conclusion

Karen M. Buckley is a lecturer in International Politics at the University of Manchester, UK.