Civil society activism around issues of global justice has proliferated in Europe during the past two decades. Has such contestation and advocacy made a difference? This book examines whether and how the organizations, networks and campaigns involved have attained their policy objectives in the areas of debt relief, international trade, international taxation and corporate accountability. The analysis also considers the relationship between national and transnational activism. By comparing variations in the "activism-policy nexus" in France, Italy and the United Kingdom, it seeks to understand how such interaction and policy outcomes vary in different institutional and political contexts.

Introduction: Understanding the Activism-Policy Nexus Anne Ellersiek, Mario Pianta and Peter Utting Part I: Actors, Institutions and Networks 1. Elite Business Power and Activist Responses Peter Utting 2. National Policy Regimes: Implications for the Activism-Policy Nexus Daniela Barrier 3. The Potential and Practice of Civic Networks Jem Bendell and Anne Ellersiek 4. Global Social Movement Networks and the Politics of Change Raffaele Marchetti and Mario Pianta Part II: The Activism-Policy Nexus in Practice 5. Global Networks on Trade Policy: The Case of the WTO Conference in Cancun Federico Silva 6. Advocacy for Corporate Accountability and Trade Justice: The Role of 'Noble Networks' in the United Kingdom Jem Bendell and Anne Ellersiek 7. Reforming Agricultural and Trade Policy in France: The Limits of Multi-Actor Coalitions Benoit Daviron and Tancrède Voituriez 8. Debt Relief and Trade Justice in Italy Paolo Gerbaudo and Mario Pianta 9. Dropping the Debt? British Anti-Debt Campaigns and International Development Policy Clare Saunders and Tasos Papadimitriou 10. The Struggle for Third World Debt Relief in France Rodrigo Conteras Osorio 11. Global Justice and/as Global Democracy: The UK Campaign for a Tobin Tax James Brassett 12. Campaign or 'Movement of Movements'? Attac France and the Currency Transaction Tax (CTT) Edouard Morena 13. How Can Activism Make Change Happen? Mario Pianta, Anne Ellersiek and Peter Utting