From spray-painted slogans in Senegal to student uprisings in South Africa, twenty-first century Africa has seen an explosion of protests and social movements. But why? Protests flourish amidst an emerging middle class whose members desire political influence and possess the money, education, and political autonomy to effectively launch movements for democratic renewal. In contrast with pro-democracy protest leaders, rank-and-file protesters live at a subsistence level and are motivated by material concerns over any grievance against a ruling regime. Through extensive field research, Lisa Mueller shows that middle-class political grievances help explain the timing of protests, while lower-class material grievances explain the participation. By adapting a class-based analysis to African cases where class is often assumed to be irrelevant, Lisa Mueller provides a rigorous yet accessible explanation for why sub-Saharan Africa erupted in unrest at a time of apparent economic prosperity.

In 2014, Ian Haney Lopez in Dog Whistle Politics named and explained the coded racial appeals exploited by right-wing politicians over the last half century - and thereby anticipated the 2016 presidential election. Now the country is heading into what will surely be one of the most consequential elections ever with the Left splintered over the next step forward. A work of deep research and urgent insight, Merge Left is an indispensable tool for the upcoming political season and in the larger fight to build racial justice and shared economic prosperity for all of us.

Social movements take shape in relation to the kind of state they face, while over time states are transformed by the movements that they both incorporate and resist. Green States and Social Movements is a comparative study of the environmental movement's successes and failures in four very different states: the USA, UK, Germany and Norway. The history covers the entire sweep of the modern environmental era that begins in 1970. The end in view is a green transformation of the state and society on a par with earlier transformations that gave us first the liberal capitalist state and then the welfare state. The authors explain why such a transformation is now most likely in Germany, and why it is least likely in the United States, which has lost the status of environmental pioneer that it gained in the early 1970s. Their comparative analysis also explains the role played by social movements in making modern societies more deeply democratic, and yields insights into the strategic choices of environmental movements as they decide on what terms to engage, enter or resist the state. Sometimes it makes sense for a movement to act conventionally, as a green party or set of interest groups. But sometimes inclusion can mean co-optation, in which case a movement can instead emphasize action in and through civil society.

What is socialist feminism and why is it needed to fight the global rise of authoritarianism and fascism? Frieda Afary brings the insights gained through her study of feminist philosophy, her international activism and her work in community education as a public librarian in Los Angeles, offering a bold new vision of an alternative to capitalism, racism, sexism, heterosexism and alienation. Socialist Feminism: A New Approach reclaims theories of women's oppression through a return to humanism, enriched by social reproduction theories, Black feminist intersectionality, abolitionism, queer theories, Marxist-Humanism and the author's own experiences as an Iranian American feminist, scholar and activist. She looks at global developments in gender relations since the 1980s, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the distinct features of twenty-first century authoritarianism and current struggles against it, drawing out lessons for revolutionary theorising, organising and international solidarity including the #MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements. This book also contains a study guide which transforms it into a useful pedagogical tool for teachers and activists.

From the start of Barack Obama's presidency in 2009, conservative populist groups began fomenting political fractiousness, dissent, and surprising electoral success. The Tea Party was one of the major characters driving this story. But, as Khadijah Costley White argues in this book, the Tea Party's ascent to major political phenomenon can be attributed to the way in which partisan and non-partisan news outlets "branded" the Party as a pot-stirrer in political conflicts over race, class, and gender. In other words, the news media played a major role in developing, cultivating, and promoting populism's brand, particularly within the news spaces of commentary and opinion. Through the language of political marketing, branding, and promotion, the news media not only reported on the Tea Party, but also acted as its political strategist and brand consultant. Moreover, the conservative press acted more as a political party than a news medium, deliberately promoting the Tea Party, and aiding in organizing, headlining, and galvanizing a conservative political base around specific Tea Party candidates, values, and events. In a media environment in which everyone has the opportunity to tune out, tune in, and speak back, The Branding of Right-Wing Activism ultimately shows that distinctions between citizens, journalists, activists, politicians, celebrities, and consumers are more symbolic than concrete.

This book explores themes similar to those developed by Lord Windlesham in his previous books, Responses to Crime (Oxford 1987), and Responses to Crime Volume 2: Penal Policy in the Making (Oxford 1993). In doing so the author once again penetrates deep in to the political processes which have shaped criminal justice legislation in Britain and the United States, and poses fundamental questions about the fairness and efficacy of the day to day processes of law making. For instance, should governments bow to popularist pressures or organized interests in the formulation of new legislation. The author cooly evaluates the evidence and demonstrates that despite super-human effort on the part of some legislators there is, worryingly perhaps, a discernible trend towards hasty drafting and enactment of legislation in the increasingly politicized area of criminal justice. The author goes on to offer a comparative examination of the legislative process in both the UK and the US and identifies themes such as the influence of the media and the pressure from party "grass-roots" on the voting patterns of politicians. This is another important source for all historians of contemporary criminal justice history. It is not merely well researched but is beautifully written and completes a trilogy of contemporary history which will set a standard for authors to follow in future years.

The mining industry continues to be at the forefront of colonial dispossession around the world. It controls information about its intrinsic costs and benefits, propagates myths about its contribution to the economy, shapes government policy and regulation, and deals ruthlessly with its opponents. Brimming with case studies, anecdotes, resources, and illustrations, Unearthing Justice exposes the mining process and its externalized impacts on the environment, Indigenous Peoples, communities, workers, and governments. But, most importantly, the book shows how people are fighting back. Whether it is to stop a mine before it starts, to get an abandoned mine cleaned up, to change laws and policy, or to mount a campaign to influence investors, Unearthing Justice is an essential handbook for anyone trying to protect the places and people they love.

Examining working class welfare in the age of deindustrialisation through the experiences of the Scottish coal miner Throughout the twentieth century Scottish miners resisted deindustrialisation through collective action and by leading the campaign for Home Rule. This book argues that coal miners occupy a central position in Scotland's economic, social and political history, and highlights the role of miners in formulating labour movement demands for political-constitutional reforms that eventually resulted in the establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1999. The book also uses the struggle of the mineworkers to explore working class wellbeing more broadly during the prolonged and politicised period of deindustrialisation that saw jobs, workplaces and communities devastated. Key features Examines deindustrialisation as long-running, phased and politicised process Uses generational analysis to explain economic and political change Relates Scottish Home Rule to long-running debates about economic security and working class welfare Analyses the longer history of Scottish coal miners in terms of changing industrial ownership, production techniques and workplace safety Relates this economic and industrial history to changes in mining communities and gender relations

Are large American corporations politically unified or divided? This question, which has important implications for the viability of American democracy, has frustrated social scientists and political commentators for decades. Despite years of increasingly sophisticated research, resolution of the issue remains as elusive as ever. In this important new book, Mark S. Mizruchi presents and tests an original model of corporate political behavior. He argues that because the business community is characterized by both unity and conflict, the key issue is not whether business is unified but the conditions under which unity or conflict occurs. Adopting a structural model of social action, Mizruchi examines the effects of factors such as geographic proximity, common industry membership, stock ownership, interlocking directorates, and interfirm market relations on the extent to which firms behave similarly. The model is tested with data on the campaign contributions of corporate political action committees and corporate testimony before Congress. Mizruchi finds that both organizational and social network factors contribute to similar behavior and that similar behavior increases a group's likelihood of political success. This study demonstrates that rather than making their political decisions in a vacuum, firms are influenced by the social structures within which they are embedded. The results establish for the first time that the nature of relations between firms has real political consequences. The Structure of Corporate Political Action will be of interest not only to social scientists but to anyone concerned with the future of American democracy.

This book traces the spiritual journey of Satish Kumar--child monk, peace pilgrim, ecological activist, and educator. In it he traces the sources of inspiration that formed his understanding of the world as a network of multiple and diverse relationships. You Are, Therefore, I Am is in four parts. The first describes the author's memories of conversations with his mother, his teacher, and his guru, all of whom were deeply religious. The second part recounts his discussions with the Indian sage Vinoba Bhave, J. Krishnamurti, Bertrand Russell, Martin Luther King, and E. F. Schumacher. These five great activists and thinkers inspired him to engage with social, ecological, and political issues. In the third part Satish narrates his travels in India, which have continued to nourish his mind and reconnect him with his roots. The fourth part brings together his worldview, which is based in relationships and the connections between all things, rather than the philosophy of dualism, division, and separation that are found in Rene Descartes' famous maxim "I think, therefore, I am." Satish Kumar holds an emergent worldview encapsulated in a fundamental Sanskrit dictum, So Hum, well known in India but not in the West, which can be translated as "You are, therefore, I am." This mantra underpins all the experiences brought together in this book.

We imagine that art and money are old enemies, but this myth actually reproduces a violent system of global capitalism and prevents us from imagining and building alternatives. From the chaos unleashed by the 'imaginary' money in financial markets to the new forms of exploitation enabled by the 'creative economy' to the way art has become the plaything of the world's plutocrats, our era of financialization demands we question our romantic assumptions about art and money. By exploring the way contemporary artists engage with cash, debt and credit, Haiven identifies and assesses a range of creative strategies for mocking, sabotaging, exiting, decrypting and hacking capitalism today. Written for artists, activists and scholars, this book makes an urgent call to unleash the power of the radical imagination by any media necessary.

'A tour de force' - Dalia Gebrial Antiracist movements are more mainstream than ever before. Liberal democracies boast of their policies designed to stamp out racism in all walks of life. Why then is racism still ever-present in our society? This is not an accident, but by design. Capitalism is structured by racism and has relentlessly attacked powerful movements. Race to the Bottom traces our current crisis back decades, to the fragmentation of Britain's Black Power movements and their absorption into NGOs and the Labour Party. The authors call for recovering radical histories of antiracist struggle, championing modern activism and infusing them with the urgency of our times: replacing anxieties over 'unconscious bias' and rival claims for 'representation' with the struggle for a new, socialist, multi-racial organising from below.

Recent years have seen massive feminist mobilizations in virtually every continent, overturning social mores and repressive legislation. In this brilliant and original look at the emerging feminist international, Veronica Gago explores how the women's strike, as both a concept and collective experience, may be transforming the boundaries of politics as we know it. At once a gripping political analysis and a theoretically charged manifesto, Feminist International draws on the author's rich experience with radical movements to enter into ongoing debates in feminist and Marxist theory: from social reproduction and domestic work to the intertwining of financial and gender violence, as well as controversies surrounding the neo-extractivist model of development, the possibilities and limits of left populism, and the ever-vexed nexus of gender-race-class. Gago asks what another theory of power might look like, one premised on our desire to change everything.