Pressure groups are an important influence on modern politics, with people feeling strongly about single issues, willing to protest, lobby and petition for their cause.

From uncovering major retailers' links to sweatshop abuses and revealing the deception of American tobacco companies, to questioning corporations' ties to repressive dictators, shaming food processors into selling dolphin-safe tuna and demanding that businesses stop destroying old growth forests, citizens have become far more aggressive in directly challenging corporate behavior. Written by two activists who are constantly in the eye of this storm, Insurrection charts the growth of this dissatisfaction and gives us a glimpse of where this movement might be heading.

All the components needed to construct an Arab lobby exist; the significant Arab Diaspora in the US, the historic strategic relationship between Arab Gulf States and the US, and the Gulf's economic wealth. However, lobbying is alien to Arab culture and largely absent from its political landscape. To achieve a fair and objective assessment of Arab Gulf lobbying it is necessary to have a thorough understanding of the prevailing Arab Gulf political culture that shapes it. The Arab Lobby and the US provides a timely contribution to this understanding. Studying attempts by Arab Gulf states to effectively lobby the US government, it explores aspects of their lobbying behaviour in order to identify the factors that lead to success and those that lead to failure from their lobbying endeavours. In this respect, the research utilizes two case studies: one in which Arab Gulf state lobbying was successful, and another in which lobbying failed. In tandem with an analysis of the strategies-or lack of them-behind Arab Gulf states' lobbying, the research examines additional relevant factors such as the organization and activism of the US Arab American community, the strategic value of the Arab Gulf to the US, and the negative image of Arabs in America. The book considers the obstacles to the establishment of an effective Arab Gulf lobby in the US in order to reach an informed conclusion that evaluates the prospects of an effective Arab Gulf lobby. As one of the few academic research works on the Arab Lobby, this work will be of value to scholars and policy makers interested in US domestic politics and Arab American activism, as well as students of Middle Eastern Studies, Arab Gulf studies and communication and public relations, among others.

Environmentalists and advocates of environmental cooperation in conflict frequently discuss certain environmental cooperation project proposals such as the establishment of the Peace Park in the demilitarized zone on the North-South Korean border, the Indo-Pakistani Peace Park on the Siachen Glacier, the joint system of trans-boundary environmental protection between Thailand and Cambodia, and the joint management of Palestinian and Israeli water resources. These proposals, however, are by no means isolated. The idea that the development of environmental cooperation in conflict areas can create a bridge between conflict communities and help conflict transformation and resolution is almost two decades old. Declarations of cooperation between conflict communities and bringing the potential for peaceful relationships into conflict areas through joint environmental projects appear in the agendas of several international governmental and non-governmental organizations. However, our knowledge of the "real" workings of environmental cooperation in conflict zones does not correspond with the popularity of these thoughts and actions. Although environmental cooperation has been initiated in many conflict areas, the differences in individual cases are so large that, so far, there is neither accurate data nor any idea of the workings of environmental cooperation as a tool for conflict transformation. This book addresses some of these issues and offers several new findings. Specifically, it examines the emergence of environmental cooperation and its function in political conflicts. It concludes that not all environmental cooperation is real cooperation and not all real cooperation is favorable. The scope, form, and content of cooperation are important to the peacebuilding potential of environmental cooperation, and there are multiple intervening factors such as motivation of actors, their value preferences, and duration of the support of external actors.

The local food movement is one of the most active of current civil engagement social movements. This work presents primary evidence from over 900 documents, interviews, and participant observations, and provides the first descriptive history of local food movement national policy achievements in the US, from 1976 to 2013, and in the UK, from 1991 to 2013, together with reviews of both the American and British local food movements. It provides a US-UK comparative context, significantly updating earlier comparisons of American, British and European farm and rural policies. The comparative perspective shows that, over time, more effective strategies for national policy change required social-movement building strategies, such as collaborative policy coalitions, capacity-building for smaller organizations, and policy entrepreneurship for joining together separate rural, farming, food, and health interests. In contrast, narrowly-defined single issue campaigns often undermined long-term policy change, even if short-term wins emerged. By profiling interviews of American and English movement leaders, policymakers, and funders, the book demonstrates that democratic participation in food policy is best supported when funders incentivize groups to work together and overcome their differences.

The lack of previous research into political interest groups and taking into account policy-specific and institutional context characteristics is largely due to research designs that have been primarily focused on a small number of policy debates, with the result that contextual characteristics were largely held constant. This book brings together articles from different modules that are part of a larger European Collaborative Research Project, INTEREURO, carried out by research teams in nine different countries under the auspices of the European Science Foundation. The main goal of the book is to analyse strategies, framing and influence processes for a set of 125 legislative proposals submitted by the European Commission, in an effort to better understand the involvement of interest organizations in the decision-making process of the EU. Contributors draw on sophisticated and innovative policy-driven samples of interest group mobilization, allowing them to account systematically for how policy-specific and institutional context factors shape mobilization, lobbying strategies and influence of interest groups on public policy debates in the EU. In this way, the book makes an important contribution to the study of interest groups in the EU and represents the breadth of positions taken in the current literature. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of European Public Policy.

Using the historic Minnesota state government shutdown of 2011 as a backdrop, Interfaith Advocacy describes the work of the Joint Religious Legislative Coalition, an interfaith advocacy group that brings together leaders from Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and Muslim traditions to advocate on behalf of a range of policies. As the nation's first statewide interfaith lobbying group, the story of the JRLC facilitates an examination of the role of political advocacy groups in state level American politics: what they are, how and why they form, how they mobilize citizens to participate in the political process, how they work to influence government, and what their impact is on American democracy. With research based on two years of in-depth interviews, participant observation, and analysis of archival records, this volume offers proof that it is possible to build successful long term political coalitions among improbable allies. The book investigates both the strengths and weaknesses of this model of advocacy and concludes that the presence of religious advocacy groups in the political process offers substantial benefits of representation, concern for underrepresented issues and groups, and the development of networks of social capital. Interfaith Advocacy is grounded in the theoretical literature of political science but also accessible to all readers who have an interest in political advocacy, state politics, or religion and politics.

In an age of corruption, sleaze and scandal associated with financial crisis and economic downturn across the globe, citizens want more transparency and accountability in politics. This book examines a principal means by which this can be achieved: the regulation of lobbyists. It provides innovative insights into lobbying regulations across four continents -- North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. What are these regulations about? What are the differences across the continents? How effective are the rules? How have they changed the lobbying profession? Using qualitative and quantitative analyses, the book compares and contrasts regulatory laws in the US, Canada, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Hungary, the EU, Taiwan and Australia. It examines how politicians, lobbyists and civil servants regard the legislation in place in different jurisdictions. It also considers what lessons and different "models of regulation" can be considered and adopted by those states without lobbying rules.

"A valuable resourcea]the names of the authors and activists within it are undoubtedly ones we will encounter again and again over the decades to come."
--"Sojourner"

Still Lifting, Still Climbing is the first volume of its kind to document African American women's activism in the wake of the civil rights movement.

Covering grassroots and national movements alike, contributors explore black women's mobilization around such areas as the black nationalist movements, the Million Man March, black feminism, anti-rape movements, mass incarceration, the U.S. Congress, welfare rights, health care, and labor organizing. Detailing the impact of post-1960s African American women's activism, they provide a much-needed update to the historical narrative.

Ideal for course use, the volume includes original essays as well as primary source documents such as first-hand accounts of activism and statements of purpose. Each contributor carefully situates their topic within its historical framework, providing an accessible context for those unfamiliar with black women's history, and demonstrating that African American women's political agency does not emerge from a vacuum, but is part of a complex system of institutions, economics, and personal beliefs.

This ambitious volume will be an invaluable resource on the state of contemporary African American women's activism.

During the nuclear heyday of the post-war years advocates of atomic power promised cheap electricity and a prosperous future. From the present, however, this promise seems tarnished by accidents, leaks and a lack of public confidence. Mobilising Modernity traces this journey from confidence in technology to the anxieties of the Risk Society questioning a number of conventional wisdoms en route.
Paying close attention to social, political and policy aspects throughout, this book considers:
* the nuclear moment from global collaborative project at Los Alamos to fragmented, bitterly competing projects
* the 'atomic science movement's' use of symbolic resources to win national ascendancy
* the implications of secrecy and the establishment of quasi-commercial organisations within the nuclear industry.
This fascinating study also argues for the ongoing importance of the non-violent direct action groups that flourished during the 1970s, showing their continuing influence on today's new social movements. Welsh concludes by considering the implications of this historically based account for contemporary issues of risk and trust on current policy-making.

Professor Rosenblatt's The Chartist Movement was the first serious study of Chartism, using the techniques of modern scholarship, to appear in English. The book comprises a detailed account of the history of the movement, dealing mainly with the period from 1837 until the Chartist riots at Newport, South Wales, in November 1839. As well as describing the political, industrial and social conditions that gave birth to the Chartist movement, this work contains extremely useful statistical tables of the 543 persons who were convicted for offences committed in the furtherance of Chartism between January 1839 and June 1840. "This is a particularly satisfactory piece of work as regards sketches of the leaders of the movement and of the spirit in which they preached the gospel of revolt." - American Historical Review, 1916.

Self-organised user groups of social and health care services are playing an increasingly significant part within systems of local governance. Based on detailed empirical work looking at the user and 'official' perspective, this report includes studies of user groups and officials in two policy areas - mental health and disability. The authors examine both the strategies user groups adopt to seek their objectives, and explore conceptual issues relating to notions of consumerism and citizenship. Unequal partners thus contributes to our understanding of the role of user self-organisation in empowering people as consumers, and in enabling excluded people to become 'active' citizens. The authors discuss the way in which self-organisation may be supported without being controlled by officials in statutory agencies, highlighting the need to understand and distinguish between user self-organisation and user involvement. The report concludes that if policy makers are genuinely committed to greater user involvement in design, planning and delivery of services, then user self-organisation needs to be both encouraged and supported materially, without being 'captured' or incorporated into management. The research points to the significance of 'user groups' in challenging the exclusion of disabled citizens from all aspects of social, economic, political and cultural life. Unequal partners is essential reading for health and social care policy makers and practitioners, lobby and pressure groups, students and academics in health and social policy and local government studies, and users.

Presidential transitions offer the chance for new ideas, policies, and people to inhabit the White House. Transitions have triggered policy change for decades and eager interest groups have sought ways to capitalize on this often chaotic phase of US politics. President-Elect Barack Obama declared that lobbyists would be forbidden from serving his transition and issued stiff regulations and rules to limit their access to the planning for his White House. Yet even though Obama's efforts mirror previous Presidents anti-lobbyist efforts, all Presidential transitions provide certain channels of influence, and Obama himself chose the head of a powerful and politically oriented think tank, the Center for American Progress, to run his transition. New Presidents need the information, ideas, and political capital that groups possess. Thus a curious paradox. Using an innovative mixed methodology integrating a historical analysis of original documents, original interviews with over 40 interest group leaders and transition leaders, a survey of 300 interest groups and content analysis of 300 interest group letters, Lobbying the New President uncovers the politics of interest group influence during Presidential transitions. In doing so, Heath Brown asks: Was the role played by Heritage in 1980 and CAP in 2008 indicative of a pattern of influence during the transition phase? Or have Presidents effectively shielded themselves from outside influence at the earliest point of their time in office? What can we learn about the larger study of interest groups and the Presidency from a focus on the transition phase? This book is a valuable resource that goes beyond the field of presidency studies which American politics scholars as well as public policy specialists should not go without.

In carefully crafted official statements, the European Union presents itself as an honest broker in the Middle East. In reality, however, the EU's 27 governments have been engaged in a long process of accommodating Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories. Journalist David Cronin interrogates the relationship and its outcomes. A recent agreement for "more intense, more fruitful, more influential co-operation" between the EU and Israel has meant that Israel has become a member state of the Union in all but name. Cronin shows that rather than using this relationship to encourage Israeli restraint, the EU has legitimized actions such as the ill-treatment of prisoners and the Gaza invasion. Concluding his revealing and shocking account, Cronin calls for a continuation and deepening of international activism and protest to halt the EU's slide into complicity.

Interest groups form an important part of the development of political and social systems. This book goes beyond current literature in examining the survival and careers of such groups beyond their formation.

The author introduces the concept of organizational form and develops a framework to describe and evaluate organisations, and uncover how they adapt to survive. Using example case studies from the UK, US and Australia, the book presents extensive historical analyses of specific groups, to better understand the organisation and position of such groups within their political system. It analyses how groups differentiate themselves from each other, how they develop differently and what impact this has on policy implementation and democratic legitimacy.

The Organization of Political Interest Groups will be of interest to students and scholars of political science, comparative politics, public representation, and public policy.

This book explores the influence of private United States (US) philanthropic foundations in the governance of global problems. Through a close scrutiny of four high profile case studies of public-private collaboration, the work addresses the vacuum present in global governance scholarship regarding the influence of foundations, arguing the influence of these actors extends beyond the basic material, and into the more subtle and complex ideational sphere of policy and governance. This book:

• charts the growth of private forms of governance and foundations role in deepening and extending private power in global politics
• provides a historical examination of private foundations in international affairs including their centrality in the development of the institutional architecture in international health and agriculture and the linkage back to domestic political systems
• analyses the new modes of philanthropy and giving styles particularly venture philanthropy and philanthrocapitalism and how these are being rearticulated in the aid architecture and in development discourses
• evaluates distinctive features and unique attributes of foundations as transnational actors (including their limitations) how they use these attributes when exercising policy influence and how they negotiate and collaborate with other state and non-state actors in global governance
• provides an introduction to three prominent foundations Gates, Rockefeller and the Acumen Fund and four key partnerships IAVI, GAVI, AGRA and A to Z textile Mills.

This work will be of great interest to students and scholars of international organizations, international political economy and development studies.

Using the historic Minnesota state government shutdown of 2011 as a backdrop, Interfaith Advocacy describes the work of the Joint Religious Legislative Coalition, an interfaith advocacy group that brings together leaders from Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and Muslim traditions to advocate on behalf of a range of policies. As the nation's first statewide interfaith lobbying group, the story of the JRLC facilitates an examination of the role of political advocacy groups in state level American politics: what they are, how and why they form, how they mobilize citizens to participate in the political process, how they work to influence government, and what their impact is on American democracy. With research based on two years of in-depth interviews, participant observation, and analysis of archival records, this volume offers proof that it is possible to build successful long term political coalitions among improbable allies. The book investigates both the strengths and weaknesses of this model of advocacy and concludes that the presence of religious advocacy groups in the political process offers substantial benefits of representation, concern for underrepresented issues and groups, and the development of networks of social capital. Interfaith Advocacy is grounded in the theoretical literature of political science but also accessible to all readers who have an interest in political advocacy, state politics, or religion and politics.

This book, first published in 1966, focuses on the stories of ordinary people who have stood up to tyrants around the world. A German opposes Hitler; a Rabbi in South Africa protests apartheid; an Algerian lawyer remains true to the law; a Polish writer fights the Nazis, and the Communists; an Irish playwright is caught up in the fight against the British; and a Hungarian Jewish poet recites poetry in concentration camps. Together they form an examination of political opposition, and a testimony.

This book, first published in 1967, examines the implications of a now-forgotten minor riot that occurred in 1833, a turbulent year with the working classes striving for recognition in a changing social order. A political meeting in London had been declared illegal, the police breaking up the crowd were met with resistance, and in the fracas a policeman was stabbed to death. A bad-tempered inquest followed, at which the jury returned a verdict of justified killing - for which a section of the public hailed them as heroes. This analysis sets the crime and verdict against the political protests of the time.

This work analyzes the interactions and international connections of the "civil rights" and "pro-order" coalitions of state and societal actors in the two countries. The author demonstrates that in democratizing contexts, protecting citizens from police abuse and becomes part of a debate about how to deal with issues of public safety and social control and of perceived trade-offs between liberty and security.

Presidential transitions offer the chance for new ideas, policies, and people to inhabit the White House. Transitions have triggered policy change for decades and eager interest groups have sought ways to capitalize on this often chaotic phase of US politics. President-Elect Barack Obama declared that lobbyists would be forbidden from serving his transition and issued stiff regulations and rules to limit their access to the planning for his White House. Yet even though Obama's efforts mirror previous Presidents anti-lobbyist efforts, all Presidential transitions provide certain channels of influence, and Obama himself chose the head of a powerful and politically oriented think tank, the Center for American Progress, to run his transition. New Presidents need the information, ideas, and political capital that groups possess. Thus a curious paradox. Using an innovative mixed methodology integrating a historical analysis of original documents, original interviews with over 40 interest group leaders and transition leaders, a survey of 300 interest groups and content analysis of 300 interest group letters, Lobbying the New President uncovers the politics of interest group influence during Presidential transitions. In doing so, Heath Brown asks: Was the role played by Heritage in 1980 and CAP in 2008 indicative of a pattern of influence during the transition phase? Or have Presidents effectively shielded themselves from outside influence at the earliest point of their time in office? What can we learn about the larger study of interest groups and the Presidency from a focus on the transition phase? This book is a valuable resource that goes beyond the field of presidency studies which American politics scholars as well as public policy specialists should not go without.

"Political Worlds of Women" provides a comprehensive overview of women's political activism, comparing formal and informal channels of power from official institutions of state to grassroots mobilizations and Internet campaigns. Illuminating the politics of identity enmeshed in local, national, and global gender orders, this book explores women's creation of new political spaces and innovative political strategies to secure full citizenship and equal access to political power. Incorporating case studies from Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas, Mary Hawkesworth analyzes critical issues such as immigration and citizenship, the politics of representation, sexual regulation, and gender mainstreaming in order to examine how women mobilize in this era of globalization. "Political Worlds of Women" deepens understandings of national and global citizenship and presents the formidable challenges facing racial and gender justice in the contemporary world. It is an essential resource for students and scholars of women's studies and gender politics.

Never before has the idea of democracy enjoyed the global dominance it holds today, but neoliberalism has left the practice of democracy finds itself in deep crisis. Marianne Maeckelbergh argues that the most promising model for global democracy is not coming from traditional political parties or international institutions, but from the global networks of resistance to neoliberal economics, known collectively as the Alter-globalization movement. Through extensive ethnography of decision-making practices within these movements, Maeckelbergh describes an alternative form of global democracy in the making. Perfect for activists and students of political anthropology, this powerful and enlightening book offers radical changes.

As a consequence of market-oriented reforms and historic shifts in government policy toward labor, the Mexican organized labor movement has declined substantially in size, bargaining strength, and political influence since the 1980s. Democratization has expanded workers' choices at the ballot box, and some unions have bolstered their position by forging alliances with counterparts in Canada and the United States. By analyzing the changes, continuities, and contradictions characterizing labor politics in Mexico, this book contributes to a broader assessment of organized labor's role in contemporary Latin America.

Democratization has had remarkably little impact on the state-labor relations regime institutionalized following the Mexican Revolution of 1910?1920. This legal regime both underpins the position of unrepresentative union leaders and grants government officials extensive controls over labor organizations. The combination of weakened unions, unaccountable leaders, and strong government controls fundamentally constrains workers' capacity to defend their interests. This state of affairs --especially the failure to enact progressive labor law reform since democratic regime change in 2000 --limits democracy and imposes heavy costs on society as a whole.