Book Review of: Daniel Drache. Defiant Publics: the Unprecedented Reach of the Global Citizen

Daniel Drache asks ‘what should we make of these angry, defiant, self-organized publics?’ The result is a theoretical contribution that brings to the fore Habermas’ concept of interactive communication and Harold Innis’ bias of communication for understanding rising global public activism and the effects of their dissent in global politics. In particular, Drache interrogates the driving forces behind the unprecedented reach of the global citizen. In his view, new information technologies are providing the opportunity for non-hierarchical forms of organization and coordination through text-messaging, blogging and going on line. These virtual-communicational forms combined with grass root organizing strategies have opened opportunities for public participation and social change in both, local and global arenas. Furthermore, for Drache the nature of the public sphere as the forum in which collective needs and concerns are voiced has been transformed by the rising of virtual mediation.