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The socio-cultural changes in Southeast Asia, particularly in Malaysia and Singapore, can be beneficially examined in terms of the concepts of globalisation and glocalisation. The two concepts are related and their evolution and transformation highlight the tangled relationship between the discipline of sociology and globalisation. Although the sociological concepts and theories in the Western sociological discourses have a general import, there are problems in the application of these in the local contexts of Malaysia and Singapore. This calls for a critical and creative refinement of the concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]