Linking the web and the street: Internet-based "dotcauses" and the "anti-globalization" movement

Dotcauses (Internet-based networks) and the transnational protest movement about globalization are prominent features of contemporary civil society. We argue that these phenomena are related. Dotcauses are important mobilizing structures within the movement, attracting support, coordinating action, and disseminating alternatives. They therefore influence many of its characteristics-its transnational action, leaderlessness, profusion of concerns, tactical schisms, and digital/language divides. Social movement theory is employed to study these issues. Dotcauses, and the Internet more generally, are changing social movement and activist dynamics. Policy makers have difficulty in responding to this dispersed organizational design, as do traditional civil society organizations. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.