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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Political activism > General
As we enter the twenty-first century, scholars, activists and others concerned with social change increasingly realize that in order to transform society effective coalitions among different groups working for social justice need to be created and maintained. However, most of the research and writing about coalitions provide rather limited approaches to the study and understanding of radical alliances; i.e.: coalitions whose goals are to fundamentally change interpersonal relations and social structure in order to achieve equality and true social justice. This anthology challenges dominant approaches of explaining social movements and coalition building. Based on numerous case studies of alliances created between disparate peoples and among a variety of groups, the authors show that both resource mobilization theories and identity politics frameworks for the most part are inadequate for conceptualizing how alliances have been and can be created across boundaries of gender, race/ethnicity, class, nationality, ideology, sexual orientation, and age. The theoretical approach we propose suggests that coalitions are fluid sites of collective behavior where the blending of multiple identities with political activism interact with structural conditions to influence the development of commitments, strategies and specific actions. This analogy makes a contribution to a body of knowledge that aims to understand and explain how radical coalitions work in order to enable the development of visions and plans for change that advance and sustain political and social activity.
As we enter the twenty-first century, scholars, activists and others concerned with social change increasingly realize that in order to transform society effective coalitions among different groups working for social justice need to be created and maintained. However, most of the research and writing about coalitions provide rather limited approaches to the study and understanding of radical alliances; i.e.: coalitions whose goals are to fundamentally change interpersonal relations and social structure in order to achieve equality and true social justice. This anthology challenges dominant approaches of explaining social movements and coalition building. Based on numerous case studies of alliances created between disparate peoples and among a variety of groups, the authors show that both resource mobilization theories and identity politics frameworks for the most part are inadequate for conceptualizing how alliances have been and can be created across boundaries of gender, race/ethnicity, class, nationality, ideology, sexual orientation, and age. The theoretical approach we propose suggests that coalitions are fluid sites of collective behavior where the blending of multiple identities with political activism interact with structural conditions to influence the development of commitments, strategies and specific actions. This analogy makes a contribution to a body of knowledge that aims to understand and explain how radical coalitions work in order to enable the development of visions and plans for change that advance and sustain political and social activity.
Civil society, or citizen's groups, have taken centre stage in international policy debates and global problem solving. They hold out the promise of a global community and global governance. This volume, by leading scholars and participants, shows how to understand the changes that are occurring, particularly in relation to the international institutions involved. It includes case studies from all the major social movements of the 1990s.
Is the process of European integration shifting the targets of social movements from the national arena to the European Union level? Does the EU remain isolated from the reach of national democratic politics? Or are social movements responding to the transnational issues posed by the European Union, but continuing to do so by treading the traditional pathways of nation-specific contentious politics? Addressing these key but hitherto unexplored questions, this groundbreaking volume explores how European citizens are responding to the growing policymaking power of the EU. The contributors argue that the emergence of a supranational realm of European government offers new opportunities and constraints for domestic social actors. In this new transnational realm, groups such as environmentalists, students, and trade unionists can not only undertake traditional domestic forms of contentious action, but also link together across national borders. At the same time, the volume cautions against rushing to herald a new era of transnational mobilization, as significant barriers remain to launching contentious action in the transnational realm, national governments continue to play a primary role in policymaking before the EU, and tried-and-true routines of collective action and institutions attach citizens to their national political systems. At the heart of the book is a newly developed theoretical framework, which is rigorously tested against the evidence offered by the editors' longitudinal and cross-national database on contentious political action, as well as by a series of sector-specific case studies. The combination of theory and original research will make this an important reference for scholars as well as a valuable supplement in courses on comparative politics, Western Europe, and social movements.
This collection brings together distinguished scholars who have
come to believe that democracies have a special proclivity to
stimulate political violence. Cold War preoccupations and
tendencies to ignore historical experiences have obscured this
characteristic, as has a naive assumption that when appropriate
peaceful means for settling disputes are provided, the "need" and
thus the likelihood for violence dissipates. But the more we know
about this feature of democracy the more effective our responses
will be.
This collection brings together distinguished scholars who have come to believe that democracies have a special proclivity to stimulate political violence. Cold War preoccupations and tendencies to ignore historical experiences have obscured this characteristic, as has a naive assumption that when appropriate peaceful means for settling disputes are provided, the need and thus the likelihood for violence dissipates. But the more we know about this feature of democracy the more effective our responses will be.
The Dutch revolt against Spanish rule in the 16th century was a formative event in European history. This volume brings together research from leading experts in the field, to illuminate why the Dutch revolted, the way events unfolded and how they gained independence. In exploring the desire of the Dutch to control their own affairs, it also questions whether Dutch identity came about by accident. The book begins with a narrative of events, and then explores the current state of research in greater depth, focusing on: the role of the aristocracy religion; the towns and provinces; the Spanish perspective; and finance and ideology.
This book offers wide-ranging insights into the organising
capacities of workers in Asia today. Nine case-studies examine
workers' responses to class relations through independent unions,
non-government organisations (NGOs) and more (dis)organised
struggles. Countering the notion that globalisation holds entirely
negative consequences for labour organisation, the authors reveal
some of the openings for local activism which can arise from
transnational production arrangements.
This ambitious work provides a unique statement on the question of place-based activism and its relationship to powerful forces of international capital. Arguing that specific places around the world are sites for the defense and enhancement of daily life in the context of rapidly expanding global technologies and investment options, the contributors reach for a vision of social development that supports sustainable, humane cultures. Bringing together the local and the global, this work provides the first sustained linkage of ethnic groups in diaspora to macrocosmic processes of world capital that inevitably reach down to mediate even the most local experiences. The essays, ranging in their discussion of place from Los Angeles and New York to New Zealand and Indonesia, offer both reasoned argument and authoritiative information on how local experience interacts with larger processes of global capital and the diasporic phenomenon. The book will be an invaluable resource and launching point for scholars and students in ethnic and identity studies and will interest all readers exploring the production of place and identification.
Here, back in print in paperback, is one of the most brilliant and dramatic historical narratives ever written about the American experience. Eric Goldman tells a story of the wise and the shortsighted, the bold and the timid, the generous and the grasping men and women who are the stuff of American reform. He begins in the years after the Civil War, when our tradition of dissent was fueled by industrialization and urbanization. He deals not with theories, alien or native, but with the lives of the dissenters, Populist and Progressive, with their political organizations and schemes, their popular support, the newspapers and newspapermen who controlled them or followed them, the several dramatic flood tides of reform, and the subsequent ebbing. Mr. Goldman has the gift of personal portraiture; by returning directly to men and events, he shows that reform groups have often been patched-up alliances of planners and libertarians, centralizers and decentralizers. The tradition of freedom and the tradition of welfare-both passing as liberal-haphazardly merged in the New Deal, where only Franklin Roosevelt's political skill held them together. They began to revert to their natural opposition during the administration of Harry Truman."One of the most learned, one of the most enlightening, and one of the best-written historical works in a long time."-New York Times. "A continuous narrative....The author stops the action occasionally to insert significant and brilliant sketches of the leading actors...and illuminates his story with anecdotes. He has wit and erudition."-New Yorker.
Sylvia Pankhurst was a tireless activist for a variety of radical causes, including women's suffrage, labour movements and international solidarity campaigns. She made pioneering contributions to gender and class politics, revolutionary communist politics and the struggles against imperialism, racism and fascism. In addition, Pankhurst founded and edited four newspapers, and wrote and published twenty-two books, and numerous pamphlets and articles. In this biography, Mary Davis provides a much-needed reappraisal of a woman whose contribution to a wide variety of causes is too often marginalised or overlooked, whether as the employer of the first black journalist in Britain - the activist and writer Claude McKay - or as an early campaigner for pan-Africanism. Pankhurst's changing affiliations and commitments - from her early suffragette activities, though her involvement with disenfranchised and impoverished women in London's East End, to her passionate embrace of the Soviet revolution, the cause of communism worldwide and the fight against imperialism and fascism - mirror the history of radical politics in the twentieth century. Mary Davis's lucid and accessible account of Pankhurst's political life restores a remarkable woman to her rightful place in twentieth-century history.
This work provides a comprehensive overview of the contentious politics of Unionism and the effects it has had on the relationship between Britain and Ireland over the past two centuries. By considering the history of Unionism, the Act of Union of 1801 and its aftermath, it provides a significant guide to these historical events and the continuing legacies which they have created. This book looks at the way the Union has affected Anglo-Irish and Catholic-Protestant relations and also considers its social, cultural and economic effects on Irish and British life. Key aspects which are discussed include: definition of Unionism; establishment of the Union; defending the union; and Protestant Churches and opposition to Home Rule.
This handbook covers social movement activities in Latin American countries that have had profound consequences on the political culture of the region. It examines the developments of the past twenty years, such as a renewed upswing in popular mobilization, the ending of violent conflicts and military governments, new struggles and a relatively more democratic climate. It shows that, from southern Chiapas to Argentina, social movements in the 1990s and especially in the 2000s, have reached new heights of popular participation. There is a lack of research on the politics of this region in the contemporary era of globalization, this volume partially fills the void and offers a rich resource to students, scholars and the general public in terms of understanding the politics of mass mobilization in the early twenty-first century. The contributors each address social movement activity in their own nation and together they present a multidisciplinary perspective on the topic. Each chapter uses a case study design to bring out the most prominent attributes of the particular social struggle(s), for instance the main protagonists in the campaigns, the grievances of the population and the outcomes of the struggles. This Handbook is divided into seven substantive themes, providing overall coherence to a broad range of social conflicts across countries, issues and social groups. These themes include: 1) theory of Latin American social movements; 2) neoliberalism; 3) indigenous struggles; 4) women's movements; 5) movements and the State; 6) environmental movements; and 7) transnational mobilizations.
Examining the relationships between activists and the changing political environment, this book analyzes the trajectories of three major social movements in Taiwan during the country's democratic transition between 1980 and 2000. In doing so, it explores why the labor and environmental movements became less partisan, while the women's movement became more so. Providing a comparative discussion of these critical social movements, this book explores key theoretical questions and presents a rich and comprehensive analysis of social activism during this period of Taiwan's political history. It focuses on causal mechanisms and variation and thus avoids the tautological trap of finding an "improving" political opportunity structure wherever a social movement is flourishing. Drawing on extensive data from over 140 activists' demographic backgrounds, the discussion also builds upon existing studies of the "biographical" aspects of contention. This study then asks further questions about how certain tactics are chosen, not only how a repertoire of contention comes to have the shape it does. Combining both a theoretical and an empirical approach, this book will be useful to students and scholars of Taiwanese politics and society, as well as social movements and democracy more generally.
Raymond Aron called Merleau-Ponty "the most influential French philosopher of his generation." First published in France in 1947, Humanism and Terror was in part a response to Arthur Koestler's "Darkness at Noon," and in a larger sense a contribution to the political and moral debates of a postwar world suddenly divided into two ideological armed camps. For Merleau-Ponty, the central question was: could Communism transcend its violence and intentions? The value of a society is the value it places upon man's relation to man, Merleau-Ponty examines not only the Moscow trials of the late thirties but also Koestler's re-creation of them. He argues that violence in general in the Communist world can be understood only in the context of revolutionary activism. He demonstrates that it is pointless to ask whether Communism respects the rules of liberal society; it is evident that Communism does not. In post-Communist Europe, when many are addressing similar questions throughout the world, Merleau-Ponty's discourse is of prime importance; it stands as a major and provocative contribution to limits on the use of violence. The argument is placed in its current context in a brilliant new introduction by John O'Neill. His remarks extend the line of argument originally developed by the great French political philosopher. This is a major contribution to political theory and philosophy.
"Is Apartheid Really Dead? Pan Africanist Working Class Cultural Critical Perspectives" is an engaging and incisive book that radically challenges the widespread view that post-apartheid society is a liberated society, specifically for the Black working class and rural peasant populations. Julian Kunnie's central contention in this book is that the post-apartheid government was the product of a serious compromise between the former ruling white-led Nationalist Party and the African National Congress, resulting in a continuation of the erstwhile system of monopoly capitalism and racial privilege, albeit revised by the presence of a burgeoning Black political and economic elite. The result of this historic compromise is the persistent subjugation and impoverishment of the Black working class by the designs of global capital as under apartheid, this time managed by a Black elite in collaboration with the powerful white capitalist establishment in South Africa."Is Apartheid Really Dead?" engages in a comprehensive analysis of the South African conflict and the negotiated settlement of apartheid rule, and explores solutions to the problematic of continued Black oppression and exploitation. Rooted in a Black Consciousness philosophical framework, unlike most other works on post-apartheid South Africa, this book provides a carefully delineated history of the South African struggle from the pre-colonial era through the present. What is additionally distinctive is the author's reference to and discussion of the Pan Africanist movement in the global struggle for Black liberation, highlighting the aftermath of the 1945 Pan African meeting in Manchester. The author analyzes the South African struggle within the context of Pan Africanism and the continent-wide movement to rid Africa of colonialism's legacy, highlighting the neo-colonial character of much of Africa's post-independence nations, arguing that South Africa has followed similar patterns.One of the attractive qualities of this book is that it discusses correctives to the perceived situation of neo-colonialism in South Africa, by delving into issues of gender oppression and the primacy of women's struggle, working class exploitation and Black worker mobilization, environmental despoliation and indigenous religio-cultural responses, and educational disenfranchisement and the need for radically new structures and policies in educational transformation. Ultimately, "Is Apartheid Really Dead?" postulates revolutionary change as a solution, undergirded with all of the aforementioned ingredients. While anticipating and articulating a revolutionary socialist vision for post-apartheid South Africa, this book is tempered by a realistic appraisal of the dynamics of the global economy and the legacy of colonial oppression and capitalism in South Africa.
"An Ethnography of the Goodman Building vividly incorporates a wide variety of methods to tell the story of class struggle in a building, neighborhood, and city that is replicated globally. I read it as a number of boxes inside each other opened in the course of reading. Caldararo recounts the building's personal "biography" to convey not only the "facts about," but the "feelings about" the flesh and blood of the building and its surrounding neighborhood." -Jerome Krase, Brooklyn College of The City University of New York, USA "This unique contribution to the field of urban and regional studies counteracts current trends in the ethnographies of urban movements by offering, with great hindsight, an analysis from a physical space, and from first-hand experience. The focal point is one building, and the author is a former tenant. This perspective is appealing, especially in an era of global connections where macro social movements are on the front line of urban life and research." -Nathalie Boucher, Director and Researcher, Respire, and Affiliated Professor Assistant, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Concordia University, Canada. Through in-depth analysis and narrative investigation of an actual building occupation, Niccolo Caldararo seeks to not only offer an historical account of the Goodman Building in San Francisco, but also focus on the active resistance tactics of its residents from the 1960s to the 1980s. Taking as its focal point the building itself, the volume weaves in and out of every life involved and the struggles that surround it-San Francisco's urban renewal, ethnic clearing, gentrification, and municipal governance at a time of booming urban growth. Caldararo, a tenant at the center of its strikes and activities, provides a unique perspective that counteracts current trends in ethnographies of urban movements by grounding its analysis in physical and tangible space.
This text examines the changing global context for feminist political action, its meaning and its forms. It acknowledges the existence of dissent and debate among feminists, asserting that such debate leads to innovation in theory and practice. This book reaches the conclusion that the future of the women's movement depends upon a dialogue which is unafraid to cut across perceived differences. Focusing on key issues raised by a feministic commitment to global political change, this book covers subjects including: the relevance of contemporary feminist politics for younger women; gendered accounts of genocide and catastrophe; exile, migration and diaspora; gender and the internet; women and the nationalist movement in India; gender issues in Pakistan, Australia, South Africa and the Middle East. Featuring an international panel of cutting-edge feminist thinkers, this work demonstrates the innovative work being undertaken in the academic and professional worlds, as well as in women's activism.;It is an invaluable resource for students in Women's Studies and Development Studies, as well as all those interested in the development of contemporary global feminism.
Women, Reconciliation and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict explores the most prominent instances of women's political activism in the occupied Palestinian territories and in Israel, focussing primarily on the last decade. By taking account of the heterogeneous narrative identities existing in such a context, the author questions the effectiveness of the contributions of Palestinian and Israeli Jewish women activists towards a feasible renewal of the 'peace process', founded on mutual recognition and reconciliation. Based on feminist literature and field research, this book re-problematises the controversial liaison between ethno-national narratives, feminist backgrounds and women's activism in Palestine/Israel. In detail, the most relevant salience of this study is the provision of an additional contribution to the recent debate on the process of making Palestinian and Israeli women activists more visible, and the importance of this process as one of the most meaningful ways to open up areas of enquiry around major prospects for the end of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Tackling topical issues relating to alternative resolutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, this book will be a valuable resource for both academics and activists with an interest in Middle East Politics, Gender Studies, and Conflict Resolution. |
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