Convergence: Finding Collective Voice in Global Civil Society©

Abstract

This study investigated the question of how civil society groups cross political, cultural, social, economic, and language boundaries to find common ground and to act collectively in coalitions to effect international change. A set of constituents emerged in answer to the research question; Complementarity, Speed and Democracy, Rules of Engagement, Contingent Alliance, and Convergence. Convergence emerged as a central and unifying construct. Convergence is the uniting of people who are different, or even opposed, around a common cause. It is based on the presumption that diversity is critical to coalition success and that it needs be employed to leverage its many potential benefits. The analyses led to the conceptualization of the Convergence System, a model that employs global civil society (GCS) diversity to discern complementarity within GCS coalitions, to discover Points of Convergence, and to facilitate collective action toward shared objectives, thus enabling efficacious action by GCS within the international polity.Résumé Cette étude examine comment les groupes de la société civile traversent les frontières politiques, culturelles, sociales et économiques pour trouver un terrain d'entente et agir collectivement en coalitions afin d'apporter des changements au niveau international. Un groupe constitué des parties prenantes a vu le jour pour répondre à la question objet de la recherche, à savoir : complémentarité, vitesse et démocratie, règles d'engagement, alliance des délégations et convergence/points communs. La convergence s'est révélée être une notion centrale et fédératrice. Elle est la réunion de personnes différentes, voire adverses, autour d'une cause commune. Elle est basée sur la supposition que la diversité est indispensable pour le succès de la coalition et qu'elle doit être utilisée pour tirer parti de ses nombreux avantages potentiels. Les analyses ont ouvert la voie à la modélisation d'un « système de convergence » , modèle qui utilise la diversité culturelle de la société civile internationale (SCI) pour discerner la complémentarité au sein des coalitions de la SCI, découvrir des points de convergence, et faciliter l'action collective en direction d'objectifs partagés, permettant ainsi une action efficace par la SCI dans le cadre de la politie internationale.Zusammenfassung Diese Studie untersuchte die Frage, wie zivilgesellschaftliche Gruppen politische, kulturelle, soziale, ökonomische und sprachliche Grenzen überwinden, um Gemeinsamkeiten zu finden und gemeinsam in Koalitionen agieren, um Ä nderungen auf internationaler Ebene zu bewirken. In Beantwortung der Forschungsfrage sind eine Reihe Komponenten zu Tage getreten: Complementarity (Komplementation), Speed and Democracy (Geschwindigkeit und Demokratie), Rules of Engagement (Einsatzregeln), Contingent Alliance (Eventualbündnis) und Convergence (Konvergenz). Konvergenz stellte sich als zentrales und vereinigendes Konstrukt heraus. Konvergenz ist die Vereinigung von unterschiedlichen oder auch gegensätzlichen Leuten um eine gemeinsame Sac...

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“…Despite their differences, perceived benefits are access to information, access to resources and the expectation of enhanced impact. Efforts were made to achieve convergence to increase voice as Magis (2010) suggests, but this was temporary and was limited to a few groups. These special characteristics are important as they shape new forms of transnational activism, which imply less clear effects than are often portrayed.…”

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