Global social movement networks and the politics of change

The emerging structures of global social movements and their impact on policy change are examined in Chapter 4, ‘Global Social Movement Networks and the Politics of Change’, by Raff aele Marchetti and Mario Pianta. The authors identify three key novelties of such networks. First, they organizationally constitute the backbone of a new political agency that it is openly global , thus di ff erent from traditional contentious agency at the national level; second, they show a degree of political maturation in the framing of issues from local and national protest to global proposals; and, fi nally, they develop a specifi c strategic-political skill in both challenging and implementing institutional policy-making at the state and international levels. Organizational structure, themes and strategy constitute the three elements characterizing the unique nature of transnational social networks as key elements for understanding global politics in general, and global contentious politics in particular. The chapter concludes with examples of how these global social movements have concretely aff ected transnational and national policies, illustrating the ‘global activism–policy nexus’ and its manifestations at diff erent levels of governance