Amid the mass protests of the 1960s, another, less heralded political force arose: public interest progressivism. Led by activists like Ralph Nader, organizations of lawyers and experts worked "inside the system." They confronted corporate power and helped win major consumer and environmental protections. By the late 1970s, some public interest groups moved beyond U.S. borders to challenge multinational corporations. This happened at the same time that neoliberalism, a politics of empowerment for big business, gained strength in the U.S. and around the world.
No Globalization Without Representation is the story of how consumer and environmental activists became significant players in U.S. and world politics at the twentieth century's close. NGOs like Friends of the Earth and Public Citizen helped forge a progressive coalition that lobbied against the emerging neoliberal world order and in favor of what they called "fair globalization." From boycotting Nestlé in the 1970s to lobbying against NAFTA to the "Battle of Seattle" protests against the World Trade Organization in the 1990s, these groups have made a profound mark.

This book tells their stories while showing how public interest groups helped ensure that a version of liberalism willing to challenge corporate power did not vanish from U.S. politics. Public interest groups believed that preserving liberalism at home meant confronting attempts to perpetuate conservative policies through global economic rules. No Globalization Without Representation also illuminates how professionalized organizations became such a critical part of liberal activism-and how that has affected the course of U.S. politics to the present day.

Contents

List of Abbreviations
Introduction
Prologue. The Good Parts of the System to Beat the Bad

Part I. Don't Buy Nestlé
Chapter 1. Of Big Business and Baby Bottles
Chapter 2. A Strong Boycott Is One Way
Chapter 3. From Grassroots Boycotters to Global Advocates
Chapter 4. Evolving Global Responses

Part II. A New International Regulatory Order?
Chapter 5. You Must Keep the Struggle Visible
Chapter 6. A Mixture of Relief, Anger, Joy, Sadness
Chapter 7. Our New Way of Global Organizing
Chapter 8. The Limitations of Victories

Part III. Revolution Within the World Capitalist System
Chapter 9. Economic "Freedom's" Awful Toll
Chapter 10. What's This "GATT"?
Chapter 11. An Independent Voice on Behalf of the Majority
Chapter 12. A Coalescing Coalition

Part IV. We Fought Big Against NAFTA and Lost
Chapter 13. What Do You All Export?
Chapter 14. New Schisms and New Alliances
Chapter 15. Our Job Is to Get Him to Bend in Our Direction
Chapter 16. NAFTA Is the Future

Part V. Rebuilding to Victory in the 1990s
Chapter 17. We Are All Asking, Where Are We?
Chapter 18. To Expose the Entire Free-Trade Model
Chapter 19. Derailing Fast Track
Chapter 20. We Seem to Be Winning

Part VI. You Must Come to Seattle!
Chapter 21. Everybody Clear Your Calendars
Chapter 22. Shut Down the WTO!
Chapter 23. Battling in Seattle
Chapter 24. A Messy Miracle
Coda. A Multiheaded Swarm of a Movement

Conclusion

Notes
Index
Acknowledgments