Castells: „The New Public Sphere: Global Civil Society, Communication Networks, and Global Governance“

Castells wrote about the relation between politics and citizen. He named the “network for communicating information and points of view” (Castells, 2008) the “public sphere”. Maybe the public sphere can also be the media, because the politicians spread their information and propaganda through the media and the civilization communicate for example through facebook and other internet platforms.

“We live in a world marked by globalization” (Castells, 2008). This is a very true statement. I think “globalization” is the best word to describe the state of the world today. Castells wrote that not everything or everyone is globalized (Castells, 2008). I think he may mean Third World countries. If he means these countries I can understand it but on the other hand he described globalization as “the process that constitutes a social system with the capacity to work as a unit on a planetary scale in real or chosen time” (Castells, 2008). With this definition I cannot understand why some people or something is not globalized. Nowadays a lot of people donate for Third World countries and the drought with the consequence of the hunger crisis East Africa is reported all over the world in all channels. Further we import a lot of food from Africa.  Isn`t is much globalized? There may be some people who are not globalized at all, for example the Amish people. Exceptions prove the rule!

Castells introduces 4 different kind of civil societies: The first ones are the local civil society actors; these actors can be local labor unions or religious groups. I support the opinion that this form of civic engagement declines (Castells, 2008). In 2010 nearly 50%more people left church than 10 years before (Monika, 2011). The second civil society is the nongovernmental organizations which operate internationally. These are private organizations, like Amnesty International. I agree that the media are the key target for such organizations (Castells, 2008). Without them it would be hard to get enough donators. The third civil society is the social movements. These are small groups which are of opposition to the values and interests that are currently dominant in the globalization process (Castells, 2008). I don’t have an example for such a institution, I think they are not very common in modern world. The last civil society is the movement of public opinion. These are spontaneous demonstrations which can be spread out over internet. I think there are several demonstrations and people demonstrate against nearly everything, ranging from animal protection to anti-nuclear movements and even personal matters.

Literature

Castells, M. (2008). The New Public Sphere: Global Civil Socitey, Communication Networks and Global Governance. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science , S. 78- 94.

Monika. (14. January 2011). Mein Kirchenaustritt. Access 19. sepember 2011 von Mehr als 87.000 Katholiken sind 2010 ausgetreten: http://www.meinkirchenaustritt.at/