The Cement of Civil Society

Mario Diani is Professor of Sociology in the University of Trento. His publications include Social Movements (with Donatella della Porta, 2006), Social Movements and Networks (co-edited with Doug McAdam, 2003) and Green Networks (1995). He served as the European editor of Mobilization from 1997-2005 and has served on the editorial board of a number of journals, including Contemporary Sociology (2006-8) and, currently, Interest Groups and Advocacy and Quaderni di Sociologia.

'Social movements are just one among several important and interrelated modes of coordinating collective action. Networks are outcomes of, rather than preconditions for, sustained interactions among groups and organizations. Elaborating this vision, Mario Diani puts social movements in their place and turns networks on their head while cementing the foundation of a truly innovative framework for rigorous analysis of civil society as a distinct field. Read this book as a blueprint for the future of research on collective action in civil society.' Ronald Breiger, University of Arizona

• Introduction: of King Solomon, Goethe, and civic networks; 1. Modes of coordination of collective action; 2. The importance of local comparisons: civic organizations in British cities; 3. Building civic networks: strategies of tie formation; 4. The structural bases of civil society; 5. Network positions and their incumbents; 6. The duality of organizations and events; 7. Network centrality and leadership; 8. Civic networks and urban governance; 9. 'Networking' contentious politics; Postfaction: bringing time and space(s) into the picture.