Partly influenced by these various critical
literatures and partly originating in other
fields, there is a rapidly growing literature
today that is beginning to elaborate notions
of transnational civil society and citizenship.
It focuses on new transnational forms
of political organization emerging in a context
of rapid globalization and proliferation
of transnational activity through NGOs
(Smith and Guarnizo, 1998; Keck and
Sikkink, 1998; Bonilla et al., 1998; Wapner,
1995), including cross-border struggles
around human rights, the environment, arms
control, women’s rights, labor rights, rights
of national minorities. For Falk (1993) these
are citizen practices that go beyond the
nation. Transnational activism emerges as a
form of global citizenship which Magnusson
(1996: 103) describes as ‘popular politics in
its global dimension.’ Wapner (1995:
312–13) captures these emergent forms of
civil society as ‘a slice of associational life
which exists above the individual and below
the state, but also across national boundaries.’