This book offers a new and fresh approach to understanding social movements. It provides interdisciplinary perspectives on social and cultural protest and contentious politics. It considers major theories and concepts, which are presented in an accessible and engaging format. Historical and contemporary case studies and examples from a variety of different countries are provided throughout, including the American civil rights movement, Greenpeace, Pussy Riot, indigenous peoples movements, liberation theology, Occupy, Tea Party, and the Arab Spring. The book presents specific chapters outlining the early origins of social movement studies, and more recent theoretical and conceptual developments. It considers key ideas from resource mobilization theory, the political process model, and new social movement approaches. It provides an expansive commentary on the role of culture in social protest, and looks at substantive areas in chapters dedicated to religious movements, geography and struggles over space, media and movements, and global activism. Understanding Social Movements will be a useful resource for undergraduate and postgraduate students across disciplines wanting to be introduced to or extend their knowledge of the field. The book will also prove invaluable for lecturers and academic researchers interested in studying social movements.

Political Performance in Syria, charts the history of a theatre that has sought the expansion of civil society and imagined alternate political realities. In doing so, the manuscript situates the current use of performance and theatre by artists of the Syrian Revolution within a long history of political contestation.

This book tells the story of Terania Creek - the world's first direct action blockade in defence of a forest, occurring in Australia in 1979. Contrary to claims that the Australian counterculture was a mere imitation of overseas models, the Australian movement, coalescing with a home-grown environment movement, came of age at Terania Creek. After five years of 'polite' campaigning failed to stop the logging of ancient Gondwanan rainforest, an organic and spontaneous blockade erupted that would see the forging of a number of ingenious blockading techniques and strategies. The activist repertoire developed at Terania Creek has since echoed across the country, and across the Earth. This book draws on extensive oral history interviews as well as photographs taken of the protest in 1979; such rich source material brings the story to life. Terania Creek and the Forging of Modern Environmental Activism will therefore appeal to both a scholarly audience as well as activists, practitioners, and counterculturalists.

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"Contributes[s] interesting new dimensions to the literature on Jews and blacks in the United States."
--"The Journal of American History"

"A fascinating text which adds to our understanding of recent Jewish Left and feminist politics and activism"
"--Australian Jewish News, Aug. 2001"

"Blending together 15 oral histories and archival research, Schultz shows how northern Jewish women's commitment to social justice - informed in part by living in the shadow of the Holocaust - played out in a time of enormous political, social, and personal upheaval...Sharply observant of her informants' lives, Schultz opens a new window not only into the civil rights movement but also into the sociology of mid-century Jewish-American culture. Her analysis is most impressive at the book's end, when she perceptively describes the protean nature of Jewish identities in the U.S. Such insightful cultural readings and criticism make this a fine contribution to both the literature of the civil rights movement and the field of Jewish studies."
"--Publishers Weekly"

"Schultz's book makes a substantial contribution to feminist scholarship, but in the end it is also a call to renewed action - to never forget the sacrifices of previous generations."
--"The Journal of Southern History"

"A well-written, serious, and important book. I learned a great deal from this interesting and rich study."
"--Joyce Antler, author of The Journey Home: How Jewish Women Shaped Modern America"

""Going South" is a heartfelt plea for incorporating women's activism into social movement history."
--Linn Shapiro, "American Jewish History"

"Going South is aremarkable book, reflecting the experiences of fifteen women who joined the 1960s civil rights movement showing how and why they got there, what role, if any religion played in their lives, and what happened to them afterwards."
--"Journal of American Studies"

"The strength of the book is that it is based on interviews; the reader is introduced to each women, her family, the work she performed in the South, the people she met and the difficulties she overcame while there."--"Jewish Observer"

Many people today know that the 1964 murder in Mississippi of two Jewish men--Mickey Schwerner and Andrew Goodman--and their Black colleague, James Chaney, marked one of the most wrenching episodes of the civil rights movement. Yet very few realize that Andrew Goodman had been in Mississippi for one day when he was killed; Rita Schwerner, Mickey's wife, had been organizing in Mississippi for six difficult months.

Organized around a rich blend of oral histories, Going South followsa group of Jewish women--come of age in the shadow of the Holocaust and deeply committed to social justice--who put their bodies and lives on the line to fight racism. Actively rejecting the post-war idyll of suburban, Jewish, middle-class life, these women were deeply influenced by Jewish notions of morality and social justice. Many thus perceived the call of the movement as positively irresistible.

Representing a link between the sensibilities of the early civil rights era and contemporary efforts to move beyond the limits of identity politics, the book provides a resource for all who are interested in anti-racism, the civil rights movement, social justice, Jewish activism and radical women's traditions.

This study explores the idea voiced by journalist Henry McDonald that the Protestant, Unionist and Loyalist tribes of Ulster are '...the least fashionable community in Western Europe'. A cast of contributors including prominent politicians, academics, journalists and artists explore the reasons informing public perceptions attached to this community.

SlutWalk explores representations of the global anti-rape movement of the same name, in mainstream news and feminist blogs around the world. It reveals strategies and practices used to adapt the movement to suit local cultures and contexts and explores how social media organized, theorized and publicized this contemporary feminist campaign.

This text revisits the main arguments and explanatory frameworks that have been used since the 1970s to understand Islamic activism, moderate as well as militant and violent, and proposes a rethinking of Islamist politics. Linking macro-level explanations to micro-level analysis, it analyzes Islamist activism and militancy in terms of the interplay of social formation and political structures on the one hand, and network processes within the other.

The first major study on the making of new cultures, movements and public celebrations of transnational solidarity in Weimar Germany. The book shows how solidarity was used to empower the oppressed in their liberation and resistance movements and how solidarity networks transferred visions and ideas of an alternative global community.

Considered by many to be the greatest Irish song poet of her generation, Maire Bhui Ni Laeire (Yellow Mary O'Leary; 1774-1848) was an illiterate woman unconnected to elite literary and philosophical circles who powerfully engaged the politics of her own society through song. As an oral arts practitioner, Maire Bhui composed songs whose ecstatic, radical vision stirred her community to revolt and helped to shape nineteenth-century Irish anti-colonial thought. This provocative and richly theorized study explores the re-creative, liminal aspect of song, treating it as a performative social process that cuts to the very root of identity and thought formation, thus re-imagining the history of ideas in society.

This meticulous and in-depth book chronicles the evolution of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)-one of the most powerful and influential terrorist organizations in modern Middle Eastern politics and world affairs. The Palestine Liberation Organization continues to exert considerable influence in Middle Eastern politics: ongoing hostilities between Palestinian militants and the state of Israel have affected the region significantly and continue to threaten prospects for a lasting peace. The PLO has expanded over time to encompass numerous factions that share the vision of liberating the Palestinian homeland, with aspirations for governing through self-determination. And with the PLO's financial assets estimated at $8-10 billion, it has the monetary clout to help determine the direction of affairs in the region. This book provides a thorough and systematic analysis of the historical events which culminated in the creation of the Palestine Liberation Organization. It begins with an introduction to key people, places, and events in the history of the PLO that includes the organization's creation and ideological foundations, its support base, financial structure, and recruitment strategies. Later topics include the PLO's role in the politics and affairs of specific countries, including Jordan and Lebanon; recent trends in its existence; and its evolution into being a terrorist organization. A timeline of key events precedes each chapter Numerous illustrations in the form of timelines, charts, and tables Cartographical maps depict relevant geographic areas, including a larger map of the Middle East and more focused maps on Egypt, Syria, Israel, and Southern Lebanon An appendix contains references to important peace agreements and documents, and provides locations for these resources online

Albert Camus was a formative artist, writer and public figure whose work defies conventional labels, and whose legacy is controversial but substantial. His distinctive contribution to modern ethical and political thought remains far from settled. Camus and the Challenge of Political Thought comprehensively yet concisely explores how Camus's compelling ideas of absurdity and rebellion emerged, how his complex political engagements and positions developed, and how his conception of an ethics of limits and measure retains a vital, contemporary resonance in an era of unsettling global politics. Drawing upon the full range of Camus's notebooks, novels, plays and philosophical essays, Hayden shows Camus to be an original political thinker of human dignity and freedom whose life and work sought to navigate between the twin dangers of idealistic optimism and nihilistic despair.

Southern England has been studied considerably less than the industrialising north and midlands in the debate on the standard of living in the period up to 1850. Yet it is becoming clear that it was in the south and in the countryside that the greatest poverty and deprivation was to be found. In these essays John Rule and Roger Wells, whose work has made them leading authorities in this area, examine responses to the struggle to live. These responses ranged from, at the most extreme, sheepstealing and incendiarism to joining in food riots in an attempt to impose a 'moral economy'. More sustained protest is to be seen in passive and sometimes active resistance to authority, and in particular in the opposition to the introduction of the New Poor Law of 1834. Finally the appeal yet limitations of Chartism in the south is demonstrated.

In this extraordinary history, James Driscoll reveals the untold story of how AIDS activists, by thwarting bureaucratic plans imposed by the U.S. Federal Drug Administration (FDA), both saved HIV patients and rescued the FDA itself from a self-inflicted public health catastrophe. By 1996, accelerated approval of AIDS drug cocktails transformed AIDS from a death sentence to a manageable disease. That approval, however, came only after years of struggle pitting AIDS activists against the hidebound culture of the Food and Drug Administration, which wanted to run lengthy efficacy trials required for full approval and possibly delay the drugs at a cost of tens of thousands of lives. Driscoll's courageous efforts, which are an important personal part of the story, navigated conflicts among AIDS activist groups as they struggled with both major American political parties to be heard and respected. He examines the effect of AIDS activism on the LGBT community, its views of itself, and its place in modern American society. Additional materials analyze FDA mistakes, drug pricing, and other contemporary challenges for the LGBTs community.

In this groundbreaking new study on ladinas in Guatemala City, Patricia Harms contests the virtual erasure of women from the country's national memory and its historical consciousness. Harms focuses on Spanish-speaking women during the "revolutionary decade" and the "liberalism" periods, revealing a complex, significant, and palpable feminist movement that emerged in Guatemala during the 1870s and remained until 1954. During this era ladina social activists not only struggled to imagine a place for themselves within the political and social constructs of modern Guatemala, but they also wrestled with ways in which to critique and identify Guatemala's gendered structures within the context of repressive dictatorial political regimes and entrenched patriarchy. Harms's study of these women and their struggles fills a sizeable gap in the growing body of literature on women's suffrage, social movements, and political culture in modern Latin America. It is a valuable addition to students and scholars studying the rich history of the region.

This book explores the relationship between youth labour market marginality and political participation, focusing on the example of Portugal and the role played by austerity policies in shaping patterns of activism. Through integrating primary and secondary empirical evidence with key ideas from classical and contemporary Sociology, the authors illustrate some of the key features of youth unemployment and job precariousness, also highlighting trends in formal and informal activist activities. Central to Youth Unemployment and Job Precariousness is the argument that following the onset of the economic crisis, there has been the birth of what we the authors term 'an austerity generation', comprised of young people facing difficulties in the labour market and uncertain futures. The book also highlights the difficulties young people have in making a political response to austerity, as well as their hopes for the future, including the need to raise consciousness about youth labour market marginalization and to return to more accountable forms of democracy.

In 1963, Birmingham, Alabama, was the site of one of the Civil Rights Movement's most celebrated victories and one of its most well-known tragedies. As a result, the city looms large in the history of the twentieth-century black freedom struggle. As the nation marks the fiftieth anniversary of those events, though, the Birmingham story remains incomplete. Although many historians have studied Birmingham's role in the Civil Rights Movement, the existing literature still does not extend its focus into the years after 1963. Picking up the story in the mid-1960s, author Robert W. Widell Jr. explores the evolution of black activism as the city (and the country) moved into the 1970s. In so doing, it provides the historical detail that is essential in the effort to understand the 'long' black freedom struggle.

Lathrop analyzes the use of political consultants and campaign tactics and shows their impact on the development of public policy. Major pieces of legislation often are accompanied by a sophisticated marketing effort, complete with polling, television commercials, and direct mail. As Lathrop suggests, governing has taken on all the trappings of a full-time campaign. As political consultants become more prominent figures in congressional campaigns, they are simultaneously expanding their sphere of influence into the policy-making realm. No longer relegated to the limited confines of candidate-campaigns, many consultants remain principal advisors to politicians once in office. In addition, Lathrop shows how consultants are insinuating themsleves into the legislative process by managing single-issue, grassroots movements on behalf of trade associations, corporations, and advocacy groups in an effort to affect legislation as it moves through Congress. As Lathrop makes clear, the flowering of post-electoral consulting is due, in part, to the advent of the permanent campaign. Major policy initiatives have taken on the trappings of campaigns as politicians and interest groups court the public for support. Blurring the distinction between campaigning and governing places a premium on the specialized knowledge consultants possess in fields such as polling, mass marketing, and media relations. Post-electoral consulting raises important questions about the efficacy of applying campaign tactics in a governing context, the nature of political discourse in a mass media polity, about the role of unelected figures in a representative democracy, and the presence of elite bias in interest group activity. Lathrop evaluates these questions by chronicling consultant activity during the Clinton health care reform effort, the transformation of the Contract with America, and the legislative battle to add a prescription drug benefit to Medicare in 1999-2000.

Contemporary American politics have produced levels of ideological conflict not seen since the Civil War. Congressional voting records especially illustrate the increasing ideological polarization between Democrats and Republicans in the Senate. In the 95th Senate, conservative Democrats and liberal Republicans overlapped in the center of the political spectrum. A decade later, the degree of ideological overlap had plummeted, and by the 109th Congress it had all but disappeared. The result is the near-complete gridlock the country has experienced over the last decade, resonating from the fiscal cliff to the debt ceiling. Politics to the Extreme brings together leading scholars and experts to examine how ideological warfare infects and affects American political institutions, hindering the ability on our institutions to respond to pressing policy challenges. This incisive and approachable analysis also identifies solutions for bridging the partisan divide and restoring courtesy to Congress.

Designed for undergraduate students, this reader combines essays on actual causes and issues that mobilize activists with theory and concepts of social mobilization. "The Global Activism Reader" is a unique collection of essays that introduce the various causes, actors, and organization of transnational mobilization to provide a broad, accessible survey of cases and theory. Beginning with concepts and definitions, the reader offers some historical perspective before focusing on contemporary transnational activism. This core section includes major causes or issue areas and specific campaigns. Readings on any given issue always include a critical or dissident voice. Weaving theory with case studies, the work discusses the environment, human rights, women's rights, arms control and disarmament, global justice and democracy, and religion. In addition, each essay features an introduction and conclusion by the editor as well as suggestions for further readings. The Reader addresses undergraduate students in political science and international relations in such courses as transnational activism, globalization, and global policy. It will allow students not only to learn about various contemporary movements, but also to develop a theoretical perspective to understand them.

Climate Change and Social Movements is a riveting and thorough exploration of three important campaigns to influence climate change policy in the United Kingdom. The author delves deep into the campaigns and illuminates the way policymakers think about and respond to social movements.

In early 2010 Russia once again entered a turbulent period. From the system of property distribution, to structure of the political elites and relations between the Center and the regions - various spheres of Russian life are in a state of flux. Two major factors are driving this change: oil prices which are unlikely to grow the way they did in the 2000s and the rapidly deteriorating efficiency of governance. Relations between federal and regional elites, as well as public activism, are derived from these two factors and play an important role of their own. Will change take an evolutionary path or is Russia facing another revolution? The book offers a view of the Russian future until 2025 based on thematic scenarios created by an international team of Russia scholars whose expertise range from politics and economics to demographics and foreign policy.

Diane Stone addresses the network alliances or partnerships of international organisations with knowledge organisations and networks. Moving beyond more common studies of industrial public-private partnerships, she addresses how, and why, international organisations and global policy actors need to incorporate ideas, expertise and scientific opinion into their 'global programmes'. Rather than assuming that the encouragement for 'evidence-informed policy' in global and regional institutions of governance is an indisputable public good, she queries the influence of expert actors in the growing number of part-private or semi-public policy networks.