How do you take human rights issues to the street, generate heat around them, and then take them into the parliaments of nations?

In a world that is increasingly disillusioned with formal politics, this book identifies activism as a key means of realising human rights and as a new form of politics. People are no longer prepared to wait for governments and international institutions to act on human rights concerns.

Fighting for Human Rights documents and compares successful high profile campaigns to cancel debt, ban landmines and set up the International Criminal Court as well as emerging campaigns that focus on HIV/Aids, genetic engineering, environmental justice, democratisation and blood diamonds. Motivated by diverse international movements, these campaigns aim to establish international agreements that will become the basis for processes of monitoring and enforcement.

This book asks how has this been done? What strategies have been used? And crucially, how can the formalisation of agreements be prevented from becoming an end in itself, sapping campaigns of their dynamism, but rather a stepping-stone to implementation?

South Korea provides an intellectual challenge in the fields of social movements and democracy in that intense mobilization and the strong influence of social movements have accompanied steady democratization for more than two decades, despite major theories having predicted otherwise. This book examines how social movements in previously authoritarian contexts evolve after democratic transition, using South Korea as a case study. It explores how democratic change influences the form of social movements, and how social movements affect the pace and direction of democracy in turn. It explains how South Korean social movements were able to attain strong political influence by focusing on four causal factors: the configuration of major political actors during the transition period, the relational dynamics among social movement groups, the relationship between social movements and institutionalized political actors, and the impact of transnational forces in the post-transition period. Unlike previous scholarship, the book takes a historical, actor-centered, and process-oriented approach that closely follows the interactions among contending actors through event sequences, rather than being driven by abstract theoretical frameworks. In doing so, it analyses uses a broad range of evidence, including police records, untapped activist documents, presidential memoirs, newspaper accounts and original data sets. Shedding light on the complex political reality that gave rise to a contentious civil society in South Korea after democratization, this book also illuminates the institutional conditions that can help promote domestic peace and stability. Therefore it will be of great use to students and scholars of Korean Studies, Korean politics and social movements, as well as policy makers.

Exploring a history of activists writing for and about children of colour from abolition to Black Lives Matter, this open access book examines issues such as the space given to people of colour by white activists; the voice, agency and intersectionality in activist writing for young people; how writers used activism to expand definitions of Britishness for child readers; and how activism and writing about it has changed in the 21st century. From abolitionists and anti-colonialists such as Amelia Opie, Una Marson and Rabindranath Tagore; communist and feminist activists concerned with broader children's rights including Chris Searle and Rosemary Stones; to Black Panthers and contemporary advocates for people of colour from Farrukh Dhondy to Len Garrison, Catherine Johnson and Corinne Fowler, Karen Sands-O'Connor traces how these activists translated their values for children of colour. Beginning with historical events that sparked activism and the first cultural products for children and continuing to contemporary activism in the wake of the Windrush Scandal, this book analyses the choices, struggles and successes of writers of activist literature as they tried to change Britain and British literature to make it a welcoming place for all child readers. The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollection.com. Open access was funded by Knowledge Unlatched.

The book is a very detailed work on the relationship between movements for autonomy by indigenous peoples (the so-called 'tribes') and violence in Assam, in northeast India. The book addresses some of the reasons for the failure of ethnic conflict management and for the frequent emergence of violence in the region. In particular, the historical description of movements by the Dimasas, Misings and Bodos is well compiled and provides a good summary for the readers. At the same time, the work offers a good understanding of ethnic violence in contemporary India. The volume offers some new research data based on comparative analysis of different trajectories followed by three important movements among Assam's ethnic minorities. While the pieces of the argument are based on the existing literature on ethnic violence and contentious politics, they are effectively connected to materials drawn from northeast India. Furthermore, the book raises significant concerns on the debates on crafting of decentralised institutions and executive opportunities that may facilitate ethnic accommodation thereby reducing the likelihood of such groups to pursue their goals through channels that are radical or extreme.

This book investigates the emergence of organic food and farming as a social movement. Using the tools of political sociology it analyzes and explains how both people and ideas have shaped a movement that from its inception aimed to change global agriculture. Starting from the British Empire in the 1930's, where the first trans-national roots of organic farming took hold, through to the internet-mediated social protests against genetically modified crops at the end of the twentieth century, the author traces the rise to prominence of the movement. As well as providing a historical account, the book explains the movement's on-going role in fostering and organising alternatives to the dominant intensive and industrial forms of agriculture, such as promoting local food produce and animal welfare. By considering it as a trans-national movement from its inception, aiming at cultural and social change, the book highlights what is unique about the organic movement and why it has risen only relatively recently to public attention. The author reports original research findings, focusing largely on the English-speaking world. The work is grounded in academic enquiry and theory, but also provides a narrative through which the movement can be understood by the more general interested reader.

Met Adam Small se oorlye op 25 Junie 2016 het daar ’n einde gekom aan die lewe van ’n unieke mens en ’n unieke oeuvre: ’n digter, dramaturg en denker met besonderse insig in die aktualiteite van sy tyd. Hoewel die toekenning van die Hertzogprys aan Small in 2012 en die gepaardgaande publisiteit daarrondom die idee vir ’n huldigingsbundel by die SA Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns laat ontstaan het, was dit Small se dood wat die deurslag gegee het om die publikasie te verwesenlik: Wanneer ’n kunstenaar sterf en sy stem vir ewig verstom het, bied dit immers die geleentheid om oorkoepelend oor die geheel van sy kunstenaarskap te besin. Die bydraes in hierdie bundel dra die ondertoon van ’n afsluiting, ’n terugblik op die mens en kunstenaar Adam Small, met temas soos die toekoms van Afrikaans en die Afrikaanse letterkunde, die uitbreidende rol van Kaaps, en sosiale vraagstukke soos bendegeweld en armoede. Mense wat Small van naby geken het is hier aan die woord saam met literatore en kollegas uit die maatskaplikewerk-omgewing waarby Small lewenslank betrokke was. Adam Small: Denker, digter, dramaturg – ’n Huldiging hoef nie as afsluiting van die gesprek oor Small se lewe en werk beskou te word nie – inteendeel: Dit bied juis ook geleentheid om die oorkoepelende blik oor Small se kunstenaarskap as inleiding tot verdere ondersoek te benut.

Activist Citizenship and the LGBT Movement in Serbia explores ways of understanding activist movements through an exploration of the theoretical concept of "activist citizenship" which draws attention to critical engagements with, and reclamations of, citizenship.

'Mind-blowing, gut-wrenching, shocking' - Chris Atkins 'Gripping . . . this is one not to miss' - Irish Times For two years, Donna McLean lived a life of bliss with her boyfriend, Carlo. But her great love story wasn't just built on lies - it was one. Because Carlo wasn't a bike-obsessed Italian locksmith at all; he was a British police officer, part of a unit that had worked undercover for years to infiltrate activist groups across the country. More than twenty of those officers deliberately targeted women and duped them into relationships, posing as socialists, environmental campaigners and union reps, before vanishing without a trace. Small Town Girl is Donna's shattering story of a life turned upside down overnight, and her reclamation of a truth that was shamelessly buried by those who should be protecting the most vulnerable in society.

With their homelands at war, can Diasporas lead the way to peace, or do they present an obstacle to conflict resolution, nurturing hate far away from those who actually fall victim to violence? And which of these roles do the Jewish and Palestinian diaspora communities play in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Particularly since the Oslo peace process, the search for a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been strongly contested among Jewish and Arab/Palestinian Organizations in the United States. Through an analysis of the activities of Arab-Palestinian and Jewish organizations on behalf of and towards their conflict-ridden homelands, Diasporic Activism in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict provides both a detailed picture of diasporic activism in the Middle East as well as advancing theory-building on the roles of diasporas in helping or hindering peace. Drawing on research into (transnational) social movements, diaspora studies and constructivist International Relations theory, this book retraces how this process of diversification occurred, and explains why neither the Jewish nor the Arab Diaspora community hold a unified position in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but are each comprised of both hawks and doves. Combining theoretical depth and practical orientation, this book is a key resource for those working in the fields of Middle Eastern studies, Peace and Conflict Studies and Diapora Studies, as well as specialists on the ground in Israel/Palestine and other conflict settings in which Diaspora communities play a prominent role.

This book explains why reactive conflict spillovers (political violence in response to conflicts abroad) occur in some migrant-background communities in the West. Based on survey data, statistical datasets, more than sixty interviews with Muslim community leaders and activists, ethnographic research in London and Detroit, and open-source data, this book develops a theoretical explanation for how both differences in government policies and features of migrant-background communities interact to influence the nature of foreign-policy focused activism in migrant communities. Utilizing rigorous, mixed-methods case study analysis, the author comparatively analyses the reactions of the Pakistani community in London and the Arab Muslim community in Detroit to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq during the decade following 9/11. Both communities are politically mobilized and active. However, while London has experienced reactive conflict spillover, Detroit has remained largely peaceful. The key findings show that, with regards to activism in response to foreign policy events, Western Muslim communities primarily politically mobilize on the basis of their ethnic divisions. Nevertheless, one notable exception is the Arab-Israeli conflict, which is viewed through the Islamic lenses; and the common Islamic identity is important in driving mobilization domestically in response to Islamophobia, and counterterrorism policies and practices perceived to be discriminatory. Certain organizational arrangements involving minority community leaders, law enforcement, and government officials help to effectively contain excitable youth who may otherwise engage in deviant behavior. Overall, the following factors contribute to the creation of an environment where reactive conflict spillover is more likely to occur: policies allowing immigration of violent radicals, poor economic integration without extensive civil society inter-group ties, the presence of radical groups, and connections with radical networks abroad.

Princeton Radicals is part history and part biography. It begins with a description of the issues that produced such passionate political activism in the 1960s and the specific campaigns that Students for a Democratic Society-the most important radical organization on campuses at the time-waged at Princeton University. The book then goes on to describe the lives of nine of the leaders of the Princeton campaigns, examining the effect of their participation in the radical movement on their choice of careers and subsequent political opinions. A number of these former activists are still involved in efforts to create a more egalitarian society, the same goal that motivated them almost half a century ago. But even for those whose politics have changed dramatically, their career decisions have been informed by the same values that prompted their student activism.

This book traces the entire trajectory of the farmers' movement in Western India, especially Maharashtra, from the 1980s to the present day. It reveals the fundamental contradictions between populism as an ideology and as political power within the democratic state structure. The volume highlights the ideologies of the movement; its emergence in the wake of a perceived agrarian crisis; how it conflates economics and populism; the role of leadership; stages of development from grassroots agitations rooted in civil society to the attempts to create space within structures of democratic politics; the eventual formation of a separate political party and consequent implications. It maps the linkages between populist ideology and mass participation, and their contested successes and failures in the domain of electoral politics. Further, the author underlines the effectiveness of the movement in addressing class and gender equations in the region. Rich in primary archival sources and informed field studies, this book will interest scholars and researchers of agrarian economy, rural sociology, and politics, particularly those concerned with social movements in India.

Going beyond electoral politics and government, this volume broadens the scope of the functioning of democracy in India, and explores citizens' role in the implementation of public policy. It looks at the ways in which extra-parliamentary power monitoring devices such as public institutions, citizens' associations or assemblies, and the mainstream and emerging forms of the media, permeate through the political order. The volume: * brings participation and communication in governance and policy making to the centrestage; * examines case studies of state and citizen engagement from across India; and * presents perspectives of practitioners, activists and scholars to provide a comprehensive view of the debates surrounding the idea of Indian democracy. This book will be useful to scholars and researchers in politics, political science, media studies, public administration, sociology and social anthropology, as well as the interested general reader.

Whether rising up from fiery leaders such as Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Cuba's Fidel Castro or from angry masses of Brazilian workers and Mexican peasants, anti U.S. sentiment in Latin America and the Caribbean today is arguably stronger than ever. It is also a threat to U.S. leadership in the hemisphere and the world. Where has this resentment come from? Has it arisen naturally from imperialism and globalization, from economic and social frustrations? Has it served opportunistic politicians? Does Latin America have its own style of anti Americanism? What about national variations? How does cultural anti Americanism affect politics, and vice versa? What roles have religion, literature, or cartoons played in whipping up sentiment against 'el yanqui'? Finally, how has the United States reacted to all this? This book brings leaders in the field of U.S. Latin American relations together with the most promising young scholars to shed historical light on the present implications of hostility to the United States in Latin America and the Caribbean. In essays that carry the reader from Revolutionary Mexico to Peronist Argentina, from Panama in the nineteenth century to the West Indies' mid century independence movement, and from Colombian drug runners to liberation theologists, the authors unearth little known campaigns of resistance and probe deeper into episodes we thought we knew well. They argue that, for well over a century, identifying the United States as the enemy has rung true to Latin Americans and has translated into compelling political strategies. Combining history with political and cultural analysis, this collection breaks the mold of traditional diplomatic history by seeing anti Americanism through the eyes of those who expressed it. It makes clear that anti Americanism, far from being a post 9/11 buzzword, is rather a real force that casts a long shadow over U.S. Latin American relations.

With the elevation of Islam and Muslim transnational networks in international affairs, from the rise of Al Qaeda to the revolutions in North Africa and the Middle East, the study of Diasporas and transnational identities has become more relevant. Using case studies from Fiji, Mauritius, Trinidad and South Africa, this book explores the diaspora identities and impact of social movements on politics and nationalism among indentured Indian diaspora. It analyses the way in which diasporas are defined by themselves and others, and the types of social movements they participate in, showing how these are critical indicators of the threat they are perceived to pose. The book examines the notions of national and transnational identity, and how they are determined by the placement of Diasporas in the transnational locality. It argues that the transnationality intrinsic to diaspora identities mark them as others in the nation-state, and simultaneously separates them from the perceived motherland, thus displacing them from both states and situating them in a transnational locality. It is from this placement that social movements among Diasporas gain salience. As outsiders and insiders, they are well placed to offer a formidable challenge to the host state, but these challenges are limited by their hybrid identities and perceived divided loyalties. Providing an in-depth analysis of Indian Diasporas, the book will be of interest to those studying South Asian Studies, Migration and Diaspora Studies.

Since the early nineteenth century, numerous campaigns have denounced the mistreatment of animals. This book compares the British and French histories of the animal-protection movement to retrace its origins and impact up to the present day. As Christophe Traini shows, the struggle for animal rights - inextricably linked to the rise of philanthropy and established long before the birth of the ecology movement - developed out of several important social and political processes, including changes in sensibilities and socially approved emotions, new definitions of what constitutes legitimate violence, and the influence of religious beliefs. Originally published as La cause animale. Essai de sociologie historique (1820-1980), 2011 (c)Presses Universitaires de France

This book examines types of political participation in ten Asian countries. The inquiry begins by building on past theories of types of political behavior and who participates in each type. Then six dimensions of political participation are constructed and tested using a survey dataset from the Asian Barometer Survey. The findings from this empirical analysis indicate that Asians also fall into six political behavior types.The analysis continues with an examination of social characteristics (such as age, gender, income, etc.) that help determine with which type of participation one will be involved. After examining participation in the region as a whole, the scope of this book turns to a quantitative investigation of individual countries in Asia.

Religious nationalists and women's activists have transformed India over the past century. They debated the idea of India under colonial rule, shaped the constitutional structure of Indian democracy, and questioned the legitimacy of the postcolonial consensus, as they politicized one dimension of identity. Using a historical comparative approach, the book argues that external events, activist agency in strategizing, and the political economy of transnational networks explain the relative success and failure of Hindu nationalism and the Indian women's movement rather than the ideological claims each movement makes. By focusing on how particular activist strategies lead to increased levels of public support, it shows how it is these strategies rather than the ideologies of Hindutva and feminism that mobilize people. Both of these social movements have had decades of great power and influence, and decades of relative irrelevance, and both challenge postcolonial India's secular settlement - its division of public and private. The book goes on to highlight new insights into the inner dynamics of each movement by showing how the same strategies - grassroots education, electoral mobilization, media management, donor cultivation - lead to similarly positive results. Bringing together the study of Hindu nationalism and the Indian women's movement, the book will be of interest to students and scholars of South Asian Religion, Gender Studies, and South Asian Politics.

American Extremism explains how at the heart of the politics practiced by the militia movement is an attempt to define the nature of 'Americanism', and shows how militia members employ the myths, metaphors and perceived historical lessons of the American Revolution, the constitutional settlement and America's frontier experience to do so. Mulloy argues that militia members' search for the 'authority of history' leads them to a position best characterized as 'ahistorical historicism', in which political interests in the present are given greater weight than the demands of a historically accurate reading of the past.
With discussion of such recent events as the Oklahoma City bombing, Waco and the September 11th attacks alongside topical issues including militia conspiracy theories and the origins of Americans' right to keep and bear arms, this work provides the deepest understanding to date of the American militia movement.

Activism in any social movement group is, as Deborah Gould observes, a project of collective 'world-making'. It is about changing the world out there by influencing policy and public opinion, but is also about the way it transforms the lives of participants - activists generate new identities, cultures, social ties, rich and varied emotional experiences and interpretations of the world around them. Movements are more likely to be able to attract and sustain support when as projects of collective world-making they feel compelling to activists and would-be activists. In this book Busher explores what has made activism in the English Defence League (EDL), an anti-Muslim protest movement that has staged demonstrations across the UK since 2009, so compelling to those who have chosen to march under its banner. Based on sixteen months of overt observation with grassroots activists, he explores how people became involved with the group; how they forged and intensified belief in the EDL cause; how they negotiated accusations that they were just another racist, far right group; and how grassroots EDL activism began to unravel during the course of 2011 but did not do so altogether. Providing a fresh insight as to how contemporary anti-minority protest movements work on the inside, this book will be of interest to students, scholars and activists working in the areas of British politics, extremism, social movements, community relations and current affairs more generally.

Whether rising up from fiery leaders such as Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Cuba's Fidel Castro or from angry masses of Brazilian workers and Mexican peasants, anti U.S. sentiment in Latin America and the Caribbean today is arguably stronger than ever. It is also a threat to U.S. leadership in the hemisphere and the world. Where has this resentment come from? Has it arisen naturally from imperialism and globalization, from economic and social frustrations? Has it served opportunistic politicians? Does Latin America have its own style of anti Americanism? What about national variations? How does cultural anti Americanism affect politics, and vice versa? What roles have religion, literature, or cartoons played in whipping up sentiment against 'el yanqui'? Finally, how has the United States reacted to all this? This book brings leaders in the field of U.S. Latin American relations together with the most promising young scholars to shed historical light on the present implications of hostility to the United States in Latin America and the Caribbean. In essays that carry the reader from Revolutionary Mexico to Peronist Argentina, from Panama in the nineteenth century to the West Indies' mid century independence movement, and from Colombian drug runners to liberation theologists, the authors unearth little known campaigns of resistance and probe deeper into episodes we thought we knew well. They argue that, for well over a century, identifying the United States as the enemy has rung true to Latin Americans and has translated into compelling political strategies. Combining history with political and cultural analysis, this collection breaks the mold of traditional diplomatic history by seeing anti Americanism through the eyes of those who expressed it. It makes clear that anti Americanism, far from being a post 9/11 buzzword, is rather a real force that casts a long shadow over U.S. Latin American relations.

Changing relations between science and democracy - and controversies over issues such as climate change, energy transitions, genetically modified organisms and smart technologies - have led to a rapid rise in new forms of public participation and citizen engagement. While most existing approaches adopt fixed meanings of 'participation' and are consumed by questions of method or critiquing the possible limits of democratic engagement, this book offers new insights that rethink public engagements with science, innovation and environmental issues as diverse, emergent and in the making. Bringing together leading scholars on science and democracy, working between science and technology studies, political theory, geography, sociology and anthropology, the volume develops relational and co-productionist approaches to studying and intervening in spaces of participation. New empirical insights into the making, construction, circulation and effects of participation across cultures are illustrated through examples ranging from climate change and energy to nanotechnology and mundane technologies, from institutionalised deliberative processes to citizen-led innovation and activism, and from the global north to global south. This new way of seeing participation in science and democracy opens up alternative paths for reconfiguring and remaking participation in more experimental, reflexive, anticipatory and responsible ways. This ground-breaking book is essential reading for scholars and students of participation across the critical social sciences and beyond, as well as those seeking to build more transformative participatory practices.

The National Front was one of the most controversial political parties in Britain. This exploration, first published in 1981, of the NF ideology and its meaning for members is based on a participation observation study which involved the development of relations with its headquarters, and with branch staff and members in several English cities. The fieldwork was carried out at marches, branch meetings and rallies, and candidates, activists, ordinary members and opponents of the NF were interviewed. Nigel Fielding examines in detail the ethnography of the National Front, describing its history, electoral performance and some demographic characteristics of its membership. He investigates the party ideology, concentrating on the key aspects of race, nationalism and conspiracy theory. The party's involvement in overt and covert political action is discussed, and tolerance of ambiguity in adherence to ideology, are explored. In a final chapter the author discusses the case for regarding active NF membership as evidence of a commitment to an alternative conception of social reality founded on fundamental disagreement with the political and social order of the status quo. This book examines the problem of the relationship between the beliefs and actions of the political deviant in the context of a group which is involved in political activism.

How does the concept of 'space' impact upon International Relations? This book examines this interesting subject with reference to the ideas of French sociologist Henri Levebre and applies his theories to the use by NGOs of advances in information communications technologies, particularly the internet.

In the late 2000s climate action became a defining feature of the international political agenda. Evidence of global warming and accelerating greenhouse gas emissions created a new sense of urgency and, despite consensus on the need for action, the growing failure of international climate policy engendered new political space for social movements. By 2007 a 'climate justice' movement was surfacing and developing a strong critique of existing official climate policies and engaging in new forms of direct action to assert the need for reduced extraction and burning of fossil fuels. Climate Action Upsurge offers an insight into this important period in climate movement politics, drawing on the perspectives of activists who were directly engaged in the mobilisation process. Through the interpretation of these perspectives the book illustrates important lessons for the climate movement today. In developing its examination of the climate action upsurge, the book focuses on individual activists involved in direct action 'Climate Camps' in Australia, while drawing comparisons and highlighting links with climate campaigns in other locales. The book should be of interest to scholars and researchers in climate change, environmental sociology, politics, policy and activism.