Globalization, the Internet, and the Voluntary Sector: the Emergence of Cyber-Grassroots Organizations

Research and Event Summaries

Project Abstract

This article explores how the combined features of global scope and information technology impact the forms and possibilities of voluntary efforts. Specifically, the authors examine the emergence of grassroots organizations in cyberspace. An analysis of a cyber-grassroots organizations (CGOs), AfghanistanOnline, highlights CGOs' similarities, differences, and relative strengths and weaknesses compared to their traditional physical-space counterparts. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications for our understanding of grassroots organizations generally. Traditional characteristics such as size, scope, and the nature of communication need to be refined in order to better account for new forms of grassroots organizations.

Faculty

Lori A. Brainard, Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Public Administration, The George Washington University
Jennifer M. Brinkerhoff, Associate Professor of Public Policy and Public Administration, The George Washington University

Events

Digital Diasporas, Identity, and International Policy Processes (DIP)2
Globalization Brown Bag, November 2003

Publications

Digital Diasporas and Human Rights: Strengthening National Governments
Occasional Paper, CSGOP-02-22

Digital Diasporas and International Development: Afghan-Americans and the Reconstructions of Afghanistan
Occasional Paper, CSGOP-03-23

The GW Center for the Study of Globalization
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Email: gwcsg@gwu.edu • http://gstudynet.org/