This collection of a dozen essays explores examples of new kinds of civil society around the world, examining their relationship to different deformations of the state under the pressures of global neoliberalism. The essays are critical of both rhetoric of representation and direct democracy, stressing the historically new configurations of power organized to harmonize conflicting interests that draw on the communicative abundance of new media institutions. Essays argue for or otherwise critically examine monitory democracy, new media and civil society in a digital age, managed democracy in Russia, market authoritarian measures toward ecological sustainability in China, Kenya's green-belt movement, the politics of Muslim NGO coalitions, anti-totalitarian feminism in Iran, the welfare state in Scandinavia, and civil society as a driver of governance innovation. A final reflection by Bill McKibben considers again the part the Internet has and could have in transforming civil society beyond its traditional factions and concepts. The contributors are an eclectic bunch of social science and humanities professors, and nonacademic research fellows studying civil society, from Europe, Australia, and the US. Annotation ©2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)