International Development: The Contribution of the Internet in Broadening the Scope of Solidarity-Based Consumption

While extreme long-term poverty is on the wane, there is a dangerous parallel increase in different forms of inequality that threaten regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa. Several initiatives have emerged aiming at tackling these structural inequalities. It is the case of the solidarity-based economy that is challenging the major social problems of today's world by seeking innovative solutions at economic, political, and social levels. Using the example of fair trade-which is well known to constitute the solidarity-based economy and that addresses social justice issues-this paper aims at demonstrating the contributions of the Internet in developing consumers' prospective responsibility, which is at the heart of a new way of behaving in an interconnected and interdependent world. By mobilizing the concept of "individualized collective action", it shows how the Internet has contributed to the implementation of the trading partnership between consumers and producers suffering from inequalities within our global society.