In a paper published by UNRISD, Alejandro Bendana examines those contemporary agencies broadly termed non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and social movements. He places emphasis on political differences in approach, and the paper poses the question of how such differences coincide with geographical distinctions between the North and South.

The paper discusses the politics of the World Social Forum (WSF) and examines the debate around its future. Attention is given to the educational dimension of the WSF’s processes, as well as to the challenge it poses to existing political cultures and models. The paper seeks to transcend the ritual denunciations of neoliberalism and, in so doing, it argues that the WSF is contributing to a growing awareness of a new movement, or movement of movements, and also that it is contributing to the effort to move beyond fragmented local struggles, as well as beyond simple and often simplistic negations of neoliberalism in its economic, military and sociocultural dimensions.

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