Power and Borders

Abstract

The recent anti-war movement appears to have crossed boundaries in transnational collective action directed at the sphere of international relations. Commentary from within the movement, from mainstream media and from recent scholarly studies often highlights this trans nationalism as a defining feature. In this chapter we identify those aspects of movement activity that do cross territorial boundaries with ease, differentiating them from activities that are fixed more strongly to national and local contexts. We find that in the symbolic realm — characteristically expressed on the World Wide Web (hereafter, Web) — connections are made in ways that offer potential for solidarity. Further, and as evidenced especially by several ‘global’ days of action, we find some evidence of international coordination. However, such activities are limited and the view from the ground — most certainly in the UK — has been more focused on national- and local-level mobilization to effect national policy change.