world had fewer than 200 transnational social movements organiza-
tions (TSMOs), which could be defined as organizations that brought
participants from various countries to work together toward political
change on issues such as human rights, the environment, peace,
women’s rights, development, and global justice. By 2000, the total
was close to a thousand. Greenpeace and Amnesty International, for
instance, had become thriving TSMOs that stood at the forefront of
the global progressive movement.^23 Likewise, Jubilee 2000, a broad
international coalition calling for the cancellation of Third World debt,
was able to gather more than 24 million signatures from 166 countries
in 2000, to produce the largest petition in history.^24 International
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) more broadly defined – to
include a wide variety of private, voluntary groups – also progressed,
to rise to more than 25,000 by 2004, with the number of local and
national NGOs even larger.^25 Some of these NGOs remained apolit-
ical or even closer to the political right, but overall those who leaned
toward the left were more numerous and more vocal.
TSMOs and NGOs actively participated in the global upsurge of
civil society that took place in the 1990s and early 2000s. As was the
case domestically, this upsurge first expressed a critique of global-
ization and of triumphant neoliberalism. The main targets were the
WTO, the IMF, the World Bank, and the G-8, and the participants in
a rising wave of protests came from diverse backgrounds, including
trade unions, student associations, environmental groups, and human
rights coalitions.^26 Gradually, this global movement took a more pur-
poseful orientation, and sought to define a globalization compatible
(^23) Jackie Smith, “Globalization and Transnational Social Movement
Organizations,” in Gerald F. Davis, Doug McAdam, W. Richard Scott, and
Mayer N. Zald (eds.),Social Movements and Organization Theory, Cambridge
24 University Press, 2005, pp. 231–38.
Jubilee 2000,The World Will Never Be the Same Again, London, Jubilee 2000
Coalition, 2000, p. 17 (www.jubileeresearch.org/analysis/reports/J2REPORT.
pdf); John D. Clark,Worlds Apart: Civil Society and the Battle for Ethical
25 Globalization, Bloomfield, CT, Kumarian Press, 2003, p. 99.
Union of International Associations,Yearbook of International Organizations:
Guide to Global and Civil Society Networks, Edition 42, 2005–2006.
Volume 5: Statistics, Visualizations and Patterns, Munich, K. G. Saur, 2005,
p. 3; Commission on Human Security,Human Security Now, Washington, DC,
Communications Development, 2003, p. 88.
(^26) Sidney Tarrow,The New Transnational Activism, Cambridge University Press,
2005, pp. 72–73.
172 Left and Right in Global Politics