More than any other topic in social science, the study of social movements provides an opportunity to combine social theory with political action. Such study is a key to understanding the motivations, successes, and failures of thousands who aspire to high ideals of justice, but who sometimes aid in perpetuating inhumane political acts and systems. Building upon the past twenty years' developments in theory and research, "Social Movements "combines original theoretical and methodological approaches with penetrating analyses of contemporary movements from the sixties to the present.

Anthony Oberschall argues that social movements are central to contemporary politics in both Western and Third World nations. They are not quaint stepchildren to public policy and social change that disappear as nations modernize. Collective action by the citizenry, spilling beyond the boundaries of routine politics is an integral part of the process of creative destruction that Joseph Schumpeter ascribed to modern capitalism and all dynamic, modern societies.

Among the subjects that OberschaU examines in "Social Movements "are the Civil Rights movement, decline of the New Left, the feminist movement, the New Christian Right, the tobacco control movement, collective violence in U.S. industrial relations, and some comparative historical movements, including the Cultural Revolution in China, the abortive 1968 revolution in Czechoslovakia, political strife in postcolonial Africa, and the sixteenth-century European witch craze.

In looking beyond the immediate political circumstances of these social movements, Oberschall points the way to achieving the next major task of social movement theory: a more satisfactory understanding of the dynamics and course of social movements and counter movements and a method of accounting for the outcomes of public controversies. Free of jargon and technical terminology, "Social Movements "is written for sociologists, political scientists, historians, professionals dealing with conflict and resolution, students and the lay public interested in public affairs.

Christian democracy has been one of the most successful political movements in post-war Western Europe yet its crucial impact on the development of the modern European welfare state has been neglected. In this study, Kees van Kersbergen demonstrates the precise nature of the links between Christian democracy and the welfare state. Using a variety of sources the author describes the origin and development of the Christian Democratic movement and presents comparative accounts of the varying degrees of political entrenchment of national Christian Democratic parties. Drawing upon cross-national indicators of welfare state development he identifies and explains the existence of a distinctively Christian Democratic (as opposed to a liberal or social democratic) welfare-state regime which he labels "social capitalism".

The Soviet Union was one of the most significant historical phenomena of the twentieth century. This volume brings together key articles that analyse its birth in the 1917 revolution, the development of Stalin's tyranny and Soviet decline from the 1960s onwards. The collection includes scholarship of the highest quality that illuminates this key episode in the history of both Europe and the wider world.

This lively book will be essential to all those attempting to understand the state of Cultural Studies in the West today. Ion Davies, who was in at the birth of Cultural Studies in Britain and followed its development in many parts of the world, is uniquely qualified to add historical depth and comparative breadth to this subject. Introducing the central theoretical issues, as well as the key personalities, Cultural Studies and Beyond traces the origins, growth and diffusion of the subject.

This lively book will be essential to all those attempting to understand the state of Cultural Studies in the West today. Ion Davies, who was in at the birth of Cultural Studies in Britain and followed its development in many parts of the world, is uniquely qualified to add historical depth and comparative breadth to this subject. Introducing the central theoretical issues, as well as the key personalities, Cultural Studies and Beyond traces the origins, growth and diffusion of the subject.

The premiership of Margaret Thatcher has been portrayed as uniquely ideological in its pursuit of a more market-based economy. A body of literature has been built on how a sharp turn to the right by the Conservative Party during the 1980s - inspired by the likes of Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek - acted as one of the key stepping stones to the turbo-charged capitalism and globalization of our modern world. But how 'neoliberal' was Thatcherism? The link between ideas and the Thatcher government has frequently been over-generalized and under-specified. Existing accounts tend to characterize neoliberalism as a homogeneous, and often ill-defined, group of thinkers that exerted a broad influence over the Thatcher government. In particular, this study explores how Margaret Thatcher approached special interest groups, a core neoliberal concern. The results demonstrate a willingness to utilize the state, often in contradictory ways, to pursue apparently more market orientated policies. This book - through a combination of archival research, interviews and examination of neoliberal thought itself - defines the dominant strains of neoliberalism more clearly and explores their relationship with Thatcherism.

To shed light on the global reassertion of authoritarianism in recent years, this volume analyses transnational diffusion and international cooperation among non-democratic regimes. How and with what effect do authoritarian regimes learn from each other? For what purpose and how successfully do they cooperate? The volume highlights that present-day autocrats pursue mainly pragmatic interests, rather than ideological missions. Consequently, the connections among authoritarian regimes have primarily defensive purposes, especially insulation against democracy promotion by the West. As a result, the authors do not foresee a major recession of democracy, as occurred with the rise of fascism during the interwar years. The chapters in this book were originally published in a special issue of Democratization.

On May 19, 2010, the Royal Thai Army deployed tanks, snipers, and war weapons to disperse the thousands of Red Shirts protesters who had taken over the commercial center of Bangkok to demand democratic elections and an end to inequality. Key to this mobilization were motorcycle taxi drivers, who slowed down, filtered, and severed mobility in the area, claiming a prominent role in national politics and ownership over the city and challenging state hegemony. Four years later, on May 20, 2014, the same army general who directed the dispersal staged a military coup, unopposed by protesters. How could state power have been so fragile and open to challenge in 2010 and yet so seemingly sturdy only four years later? How could protesters who had once fearlessly resisted military attacks now remain silent? Owners of the Map provides answers to these questions-central to contemporary political mobilizations around the globe-through an ethnographic study of motorcycle taxi drivers in Bangkok. Claudio Sopranzetti explores the unresolved tensions in the drivers' everyday lives, their migration trajectories, consumer desires, and political demands amidst the restructuring of Thai capitalism after the 1997 economic crisis. Reconstructing the entanglements between their everyday mobility and political mobilization, Sopranzetti reveals mobility not just as a strength of contemporary capitalism but also as one of its fragile spots, always prone to disruption by the people who sustain its channels but remain excluded from their benefits. In so doing, Owners of the Map advances an analysis of power that focuses not on the sturdiness of hegemony or the ubiquity of everyday resistance but on its potential fragility as well as the work needed for its maintenance.

This analysis of every facet of a national identity makes it less likely that the next great explosion in the Commmunist world - and its consequences - will come as a surprise. It investigates tendencies in China that might lead it down the same path as Russia and Yugoslavia.

This analysis of every facet of a national identity makes it less likely that the next great explosion in the Communist world - and its consequences - will come as a surprise. It investigates tendencies in China that might lead it down the same dangerous path as Russia and Yugoslavia.

"American exceptionalism" was once a rather obscure and academic concept, but in the 2012 presidential election campaign the phrase attained unprecedented significance in political rhetoric. President Obama's conservative critics-most notably Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, and Mitt Romney-accused the president of disbelieving in American exceptionalism and thereby offending the nation's civil religion. This creed traditionally has included the notion that America is a political "new Israel" called by God and guided by His Providence to be the exemplar, vanguard, and champion of liberal democracy and the free market for all humanity. The newly politicized narrative of exceptionalism portrayed Obama as a president embarrassed by his own country and intent on remaking the United States in the image of the secularist and socialist countries of Europe. This book takes a step back from the partisan rhetorical bluster and examines afresh the historical and analytical meanings of American exceptionalism, and the extent to which religion-both "real" religion and the more ambiguous "civil" religion-has shaped these meanings and their uses/abuses. This book was published as a special issue of The Review of Faith and International Affairs.

Factional Politics and Democratization addresses the nature of factionalism in parties that are created or rebuilt after a period of dictatorship. It maintains that, while party leaders often view factions in negative terms as divisive, factional behaviour can be constructive and can contribute to the building of political parties as viable electoral organizations. Factionalism as a process involves fusion as well as fission. The volume brings together detailed case studies from post-authoritarian Spain, Greece and Portugal, from Turkey (where factionalism has hampered democratization) and from the post-communist states of Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic. Several chapters provide comparative analysis which goes beyond a particular party or national experience. Together with introductory and concluding chapters, this combination of case studies and comparative analysis provides pointers to what is generalizable and what is specific to particular cases. Equally, the book offers a framework within which further studies of party factionalism in the context of democratization may be undertaken.

This book addresses the nature of factionalism in parties that are created or rebuilt after a period of dictatorship. It maintains that, while party leaders often view factions in negative terms as divisive, factional behaviour can also be constructive. The volume brings together detailed case studies from post-authoritarian Spain, Greece and Portugal, from Turkey (where factionalism has hampered democratization) and from the post-communist states in Eastern Europe.

In this collection, a group of historians explores the role of masculinity in the modern history of politics and war. Building on three decades of research in women's and gender history, the book opens up new avenues in the history of masculinity. The essays by social, political and cultural historians therefore map masculinity's part in making revolution, waging war, building nations, and constructing welfare states. Although the masculinity of modern politics and war is now generally acknowledged, few studies have traced the emergence and development of politics and war as masculine domains in the way this book does. Covering the period from the American Revolution to the Second World War and ranging over five continents, the essays in this book bring to light the many "masculinities" that shaped--and were shaped by--political and military modernity.

This text examines the emergence of nationalist, racist and anti-feminist ideologies in post-socialist Eastern Europe. In a political context that includes ethnic wars, post-socialist totalitarianism, capitalist moral majority ideologies, and a virulent new patriarchy, this study asks what has become of the notions of democracy and human rights since the collapse of socialism. It also challenges the "political correctness" movement and western theoretical responses to the events which have occurred in former Communist countries. "The Spoils of Freedom" views major social and political change through contemporary theory. Using psychoanalytic, post-structuralist and feminist theories, Salecl argues that the success of the new nationalist and anti-liberal ideologies can be understood through the concept of fantasy, and the willingness of individuals to identify with the hidden fantasies embedded in political discourse. In doing so, she offers a new approach to human rights, feminism and other liberal theories grounded in her own active participation in the struggles against communism, nationalism and anti-feminism.

This text examines the emergence of nationalist, racist and anti-feminist ideologies in post-socialist Eastern Europe. In a political context that includes ethnic wars, post-socialist totalitarianism, capitalist moral majority ideologies, and a virulent new patriarchy, this study asks what has become of the notions of democracy and human rights since the collapse of socialism. It also challenges the "political correctness" movement and western theoretical responses to the events which have occurred in former Communist countries. "The Spoils of Freedom" views major social and political change through contemporary theory. Using psychoanalytic, post-structuralist and feminist theories, Salecl argues that the success of the new nationalist and anti-liberal ideologies can be understood through the concept of fantasy, and the willingness of individuals to identify with the hidden fantasies embedded in political discourse. In doing so, she offers a new approach to human rights, feminism and other liberal theories grounded in her own active participation in the struggles against communism, nationalism and anti-feminism.

The Ethics of a Potential Urbanism explores the possible and potential relevance of Giorgio Agamben's political thoughts and writings for the theory and the practice of architecture and urban design. It sketches out the potentiality of Agamben's politics, which can affect change in current architectural and design discourses. The book investigates the possibility of an inoperative architecture, as an ethical shift for a different practice, just a little bit different, but able to deactivate the sociospatial dispositive and mobilize a new theory and a new project for the urban now to come. This particular reading from Agamben's oeuvre suggests a destituent mode of both thinking and practicing of architecture and urbanism that could possibly redeem them from their social emptiness, cultural irrelevance, economic reductionism and proto-avant-garde extravagance, contributing to a renewed critical 'encounter' with architecture's aesthetic-political function.

In "Postmodern Revisionings of the Political", Anna Yeatman examines the implications of postmodernist theory for the institutions of liberal and social democracy. In this study, she rethinks the role of modern emancipatory values, such as equality, in the context of postmodern politics of difference. Yeatman discusses the relation of a politics of difference to existing traditions of modern citizenship. While she affirms modern democratic achievements, she argues that our concept of democracy must be informed by postmodern critical theory. She explores the relationship between these two sets of concepts in terms of the politics of knowledge, the university and in the modern body politic.

This book provides a comprehensive investigation into Hans Morgenthau's life and work. Identifying power, knowledge, and dissent as the fundamental principles that have informed his worldview, this book argues that Morgenthau's lasting contribution to the discipline of International Relations is the human condition of politics.

"Citizens and Subjects" is an essay on the nature and condition of democracy in Britain at the end of the 20th century. It looks at the commonly held view that Britain is a model democracy, and exposes it as a dangerous myth inhibiting both radical thought and actual constitutional change. The text explores the tradition of political and constitutional thought in Britain, and contemporary political reality, revealing a wide gulf between the two. Anthony Wright, a recently-elected Labour MP, considers Britain's particularly acute form of a general problem of modern government. While the nation thinks of itself as a liberal democracy, its liberalism was in place well before democracy came onto the agenda. Consequently, from the outset, democracy was seen as a problem by both Conservatives and Liberals. Constitutional issues have re-emerged on the political agenda in recent years. The author discusses the means by which we might move towards a pluralistic, open and participatory democracy; he also argues, however, that practical reforms will not be possible unless they are linked to a new tradition of radical constitutional thought.

First published in 1984. Revisionism or reformism has long been recognised as one of the main intellectual ancestors of democratic socialism, the last survivor of the tradition of Enlightenment progressivism and the only viable alternative to conservatism on the one hand and Marxist-Leninism on the other. Both as a movement and as an ideology, revisionism, like Marxism, had its origins in Germany, but has not received anything like the same attention. This study is concerned with two relatively neglected aspects of German revisionism - its diversity and its international relations theorising - while focusing on those revisionists who were associated with Joseph Bloch's journal, the Sozialistische Monatshefte. Roger Fletcher demonstrates that the revisionist movement consisted of neo-Kantians, 'pragmatists' and reformists of several kinds as well as theoretical revisionists like Edward Bernstein, the alleged 'father of revisionism', and that the political importance of Bernstein, who was primarily a transplanted British Radical, has been widely misunderstood and exaggerated. He shows that the most influential figure in pre-1914 German revisionism was not Bernstein but Bloch, the leader of a small band of socialist imperialists who hoped to use nationalist ideology as a means of integrating the German working class into the Wilhelmine state and society. He argues that despite the limited success enjoyed by this grey eminence of Wilhelmine Social Democracy, Bloch and Bernstein both came to grief on the masses' rock-like indifference to all theory. This is the first serious study of revisionism as a movement and one of the only studies of right-wing German socialist foreign policy views in the Wilhelmine era. While revealing the central importance of the previously neglected Bloch, and his journal in Wilhelmine Social Democracy, it also sheds fresh light on the thought of Bernstein and his role in classical German Social Democracy. The result of extensive research in Germany and Austria, it is based on a solid grasp of the secondary literature as well as thorough mastery of all the relevant primary sources.

How do dictatorships justify their rule and with what effects? This and similar questions guide the contributions to this edited volume. Despite the recent resurgence of political science scholarship on autocratic resilience, many questions remain unanswered about the role of legitimation in contemporary non-democracies and its relationship with neighbouring concepts, like ideology, censorship, and consent. The overarching thesis of this book is that autocratic legitimation has causal influence on numerous outcomes of interest in authoritarian politics. These outcomes include regime resilience, challenger-state interactions, the procedures and operations of elections, social service provision, and the texture of everyday life in autocracies. Researchers of autocratic politics will benefit from the rich contributions of this volume. The chapters in this book were originally published in a special issue of Contemporary Politics.

These pioneering essays provide a unique study of the development of political ideas in Ireland from the seventeenth to the twentieth century. The book breaks away from the traditional emphasis in Irish historiography on the nationalism/unionism debate to focus instead on previously neglected areas such as the role of the Scottish Enlightenment and early Irish socialism and conservatism. A wide range of original primary sources are used from pamphlets to journalism, devotional tracts to poetry.

Political factionalism and ideological polarization have run high in Italian history. They must be taken into account in any attempt to explain the frailty of Italian public institutions - their instability, inefficiency, feeble legitimacy, inability to win citizens' respect, and subservience to sectional interests. Moreover, Italian politics since the Risorgimento can be interpreted as a 150 year-long attempt to prevent factionalism and polarization from spinning out of control and becoming disruptive for the country. This book deals with the historical question of political factionalism and ideological polarization in post-1945 Italy from the point of view of delegitimation. In our definition, delegitimation occurs when one political subject denies another in principle the right to exist, and in more concrete terms that of governing the country, by arguing that it is incompatible with one or more of the values on which the public sphere is founded. The essays in this book chart the story of political delegitimation in post-1945 Italy as it occurred in different political parties, exploited different discursive arguments, was instrumental to different political projects, and was met with counter-arguments aimed at defusing it, or even at trying to counter-delegitimize the delegitimizers. The chapters originally published as a special issue in the Journal of Modern Italian Studies.

Following the life of one man, Piero de' Medici, Lorenzo the Magnificent's son, Alison Brown sheds new light on several of the most important themes of Renaissance history and culture by combining political history, the history of ideas, and cultural history. This interdisciplinary study weaves together an understudied period of crisis in Italy which brought down three leading dynasties, the revolution that in turn led to the new political realism of writers like Machiavelli, Guicciardini and Francesco Vettori, and, finally, the transition from the civic culture of the early Renaissance to the courtly or princely culture of the Cinquecento. Focusing on Piero's full life and colourful character, Brown grants us a unique and contextualised insight into the patronage, culture and politics of Renaissance Italy whilst grounding broader trends within the lived experience of Florence's most famous ruling family.