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This paper revisits the concept of state autonomy in the context of globalization. Earlier literature either considered state autonomy from the social forces in broad institutional and cultural terms or from the dominant classes in a restrictive sense. However, in either case the focus remained on domestic/national society, not the global society. The discussion of relative autonomy of the state began among the Marxists in the 1970s and then graduated into the mainstream social sciences in the 1980s and 1990s. In the upshot, the notions of developmental state and the embedded autonomy have significantly added to our knowledge of the role of the state. This paper broadens the idea of embedded autonomy by locating the sources of embeddedness in both local as well global institutions and norms. The paper uses the Singapore case to illustrate some of the possibilities and limitations of the reconfigured role of the state in the face of globalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years the issues of globalization, civil society and a heightened concern for environment have simultaneously made inroads in serious intellectual as well as public discussions. Although these movements had a global dimension, they started at local, at best, national movements. Civil society is defined as a social space beyond the realm of the state, it is neither government nor private market. Michael Walzer has defined civil society as the space of unconcerned human associations as well as the set of relational networks. The main function of civil society is to challenge and thus to prevent the establishment of monopoly of power and truth. Discourses of globalization have grown manifold over the last decade. Globalization has become a contested conceptual terrain. Organised groups and coalitions of groups engaged in a common struggle to prevent environmental destruction are confronting the corporations or the states representing the other facets of globalization. Globalization is the concept appeared in sociological literature towards the end of 1980s.

This paper examines the role of civil society in environmental movements in the context of globalization. Exploring the various meanings of civil society, it argues that to understand civil society as a politically meaningful concept, due consideration should be given to social movements, which recharge civil society. At the same time, the efficacy of social movements rests on the vibrancy of civil society. In the present day world, civil society has become quite active in a large number of public interest issues of which environment has become quite central. This paper explores the conditions of the environmental movements as a truly global phenomenon and its role in the rise of a global civil society. The paper also reflects on the implication of the emergence of a global civil society for the protection of the environment. Drawing upon the cases of the Three Gorges Dam in China and the Narmada Dam in India the paper examines the role of an incipient global civil society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]