This book provides the first historical and comparative study of the 'transnational activist'.
A range of important recent scholarship has considered the rise of global social movements the
presence of transnational networks and the transfer or diffusion of political techniques. Much
of this writing has registered the pivotal role of 'transnational' or 'global' activists.
However if the significance of the 'transnational activist' is now routinely acknowledged
then the history of this actor is still something of a mystery. Most commentators have
associated the figure with contemporary history. Hence much of the debate around 'transnational
activism' is ahistorical and claims for novelty are not often based on developed historical
comparison. As this volume argues it is possible to identify the 'transnational activist' in
earlier decades and even centuries. But when did this figure first appear? What are the
historical conditions that nurtured its emergence? What are theprincipal moments in the
development of the transnational activist? And do the transnational activists of the Internet
age differ in number or nature from those of earlier years? These historical questions will be
at the heart of this volume.
