Decision making is the oil that greases the wheel of social movement organizing. Done poorly, it derails organizations and coalitions; done well, it advances the movement and may model those changes movements seek to effect in society. Despite its importance, movement decision making has been little studied. Section One makes a singular contribution to the study of social movement decision making through seven focused case studies, followed by a critical commentary. The case studies on decision making cut across a wide breadth of social movement contexts, including Peace Brigades International teams, a feminist bakery collective, Earth First, the NGO Forum on Women, Friends of the Earth, the Tlapanec indigenous movement in Mexico, an on-line strategic voting campaign, and Korean labor movements. The section concludes with Jane Mansbridge's synthesis and critical commentary on the papers, wherein she continues to make her own substantive contributions to the literature on consensus decision making. The three papers in Section Two focus on Northern Ireland, where frustration with inter-community conflict resolution spawned a movement promoting intra-community or 'single tradition' programs. Two chapters provide invaluable comparative studies of the benefits and shortcomings of these counter-movements, while the third paper applies constructive conflict and nonviolent action theories to recent developments in the annual parades disputes. The volume closes with two papers on Native American issues. The first examines an initiative to teach conflict history and build conflict analysis and resolution skills among the Seneca Nation. The final case study of two Native American women's organizations demonstrates how socially constructed identities are critical to movement framing processes and collective actions. With this volume, RSMCC continues its long-standing tradition of publishing cutting edge studies in social movements, conflict resolution, and social change.

As political opportunities shift, social movement decline or mobilization may result. The first section of this intriguing volume examines this phenomenon in depth while also moving theory-building forward. Significant contributions are made to collective identity theory, stalemate theory, and political process theory. This volume's concentration on political opportunity and social movements is accomplished through a focused series of papers that include case studies of specific social movements, comparative case studies of social movements, and comparative case studies of transnational issue networks. They include movements including the U. S. anti-nuclear power movement, the Rastafarians, the alternative and complimentary medicine movement, indigenous rights movements in Panama and Brazil, the animal rights movement, the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, and the housing reform movements in post-Soviet Union Moscow and Budapest. A shorter, but no less important section closes this volume while taking up another historic focus of the series: social and political change. Here one paper documents democratization in Wales via the use of 'inclusive politics' by Plaid Cymru, another analyzes the use of 'political homicide' in Mexico during the 1990s, and a third explores campus unrest in the United States.

Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change seeks to encourage dialogue and cross-fertilization across a number of related but too disconnected research literatures: social movements, conflict resolution, and social and political change. This volume showcases deeply empirical and often multi-method research by senior and junior scholars alike. Divided into three sections, the first section casts a spotlight on the institution that the RSMCC series exists within and primarily serves: higher education. Papers in the middle section are linked by their investigation of the dynamics of political protest. The volume concludes with three papers linked by their various connections to the theoretical framework of frame analysis in social movements research. Topics discussed include: framing illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexican Border; movement publications as data; social networks and social protest; and the ethics of social movement research in a post-9/11 political climate. Comparative case analysis and qualitative studies push into new theoretical territories in this illuminating and important research which helps define and advance the multiple fields reflected in the series title.

Over the past decade social movement scholarship has reflected the robust nature of many of the movements themselves. Innovative lines of inquiry and new theoretical frameworks have opened up to reinvigorate the field. This volume reflects this welcome trend.

The volume opens with two papers analyzing tactical and strategic innovations in movement organizing. One establishes that the woman's suffrage movement relied on both outsider (contentious) politics and insider (institutionalized) politics, while the other addresses the promises and pitfalls of transitional social movements that organize through the Internet.

Another area of recently invigorated research is on the repression of social movements, and this volume includes two such papers. Mobilization concerns associated with political protest in high-risk settings are empirically addressed in one paper, while the other contributes to the policing of protest literature by critically analyzing the costs to movements of arrests.

Using newspaper coverage of social movements for events data has risen lately thanks in part to the Internet and new software. We include two papers that reflect this trend and which address emerging methodological concerns associated with it.

Perhaps the most fertile area of social movement research examines the increasingly complex and busy intersection of collective identity issues with social movement membership and mobilization. Thus we close this volume with three papers representing this new theorizing.

Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change continues it distinquished tradition of reflecting recent trends in social movement scholarship while alsocontributing to new theorizing.

In recent years, there has been a surge in social movement theorizing known as the contentious politics approach to studying political protest activity. In 2002, a conference sponsored by the Collective Behavior and Social Movements Section of the American Sociological Association was held at the University of Notre Dame to consider, in part, this development in field. But the conference organizers also wanted to consider more broadly what we collectively consider to be social movement research and theorizing. In part, this means moving beyond a state-centered view of contentious politics and toward a more open definition of what might be fruitfully examined by social movement theories - and in turn what might inform those theories even as we use then in more traditional social movement arenas. This volume represents some of the fruits of that conference and includes four sections that defines social movement authorities challenges beyond state targets, expands our notions of what constitutes repression of social movement activity, examines challenges to cultural authorities and processes, and illustrates the broader notions of authority challenge in three case studies of corporate systems. With this volume, "Research in Social Movements, Conflict and Change" celebrates its 25th anniversary and a history of publishing important, leading edge research and theorizing in the areas pf protest, social conflict, and political change.

During war, space for debate shrinks. Narrow ideas of patriotism and democracy marginalize and silence opposition to militarism abroad and repression at home. Although powerful, these ideas encounter widespread resistance. Analyzing the official statements of 15 organizations from 1990-2005, the authors show that the U.S. peace movement strongly contested taken-for-granted assumptions regarding nationalism, religion, security, and global justice. Contesting Patriotism engages cutting-edge theories in social movements research to understand the ways that activists promote peace through their words. Concepts of culture, power, strategy, and identity are used to explain how movement organizations and activists contribute to social change. The diversity of organizations and conflicts studied make this book a unique and important contribution to peace building and to social movements scholarship.

During war, space for debate shrinks. Narrow ideas of patriotism and democracy marginalize and silence opposition to militarism abroad and repression at home. Although powerful, these ideas encounter widespread resistance. Analyzing the official statements of 15 organizations from 1990-2005, the authors show that the U.S. peace movement strongly contested taken-for-granted assumptions regarding nationalism, religion, security, and global justice. Contesting Patriotism engages cutting-edge theories in social movements research to understand the ways that activists promote peace through their words. Concepts of culture, power, strategy, and identity are used to explain how movement organizations and activists contribute to social change. The diversity of organizations and conflicts studied make this book a unique and important contribution to peace building and to social movements scholarship.

Despite the ubiquity of conflict, significant gaps remain in our knowledge of what influences its escalation and resolution. How collective identity formation impacts social conflicts is taken up in these compelling case studies, ranging from church and community disputes, ethnic conflicts, environmental disputes, to international trade disputes and wars. Important themes include the dynamics of enemy-imaging, the constructs of race and gender, in-groups and out-groups, and the double-edged potential of collective identity formation to both escalate and de-escalate conflicts. Throughout, social conflicts are presented as potent forces for cultural and political change. The contributors highlight methods for resolving intractable identity-based conflicts, including challenging assumptions about the OOther, O creating inclusive identities, and using various negotiation and mediation venues as catalysts for constructive identity shifts. With its ground-breaking scholarship, Social Conflicts and Collective Identities is sure to become a basic building block for the burgeoning conflict resolution field and for improved understanding of identity dynamics in human conflict

A long-standing characteristic of the Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change series is publishing new theoretical and empirical work that connects previously disparate sub-fields. This volume continues that tradition by opening with five papers that join social movements research with organizational theory, new institutionalism, strategic action fields, and nonviolent action. One study does this by examining how the Fenian Brotherhood organized a transnational revolutionary movement for Ireland's independence. Another paper analyzes the strategic relations between conservative, moderate and radical organizations in different movements, while a further study zeroes in on nonviolent action campaigns. One chapter examines how the North American SlutWalk campaign responded to the organizational field by strategically adapted their framing to make it more resonant transnationally. Other chapters examine how LGBT organizational presence influences the passage of hate crime legislation, and how the women's movement in Franco's Spain persevered through repression and abeyance partly due to cultural practices.

Social movement strategies and coalition dynamics in movements are two of the hottest arenas for cutting-edge research. Many case studies offer useful analytical windows through which we can understand the strategic choices made by individual movement organizations. Equally if not more important questions remain about how the positions a movement organization occupies in the broader social movement field impacts strategic decision-making. Coalition politics and conflicts matter to social movements.Thus Section One of this volume of "Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change" presents a series of papers focused on the complex dynamics of coalitions and the interorganizational relations within social movements. Another section follows immediately that compliments in an integrated way the first, this one focused on strategic decision making in social movements, including with regard to strategic alliances. The Volume closes with a third section on political opportunities and political inequalities. This volume of the "Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change" does what the series has always done best: showcase sound empirical work and creative theory-building that addresses those questions currently at the forefront of the field.

This latest volume in the august Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change series carries on a long tradition of featuring only the best data-driven and multi-method research upon which useful theory can be painstakingly built. Part one focuses on old and new media platforms and their intersections with mobilization issues, highlighting protest websites and the US Tea Party movement. Part two investigates the roles elites play in advancing movement campaigns for increased rights and decreased inequalities in the US and Peru. The third section spotlights best and worst practices in conflict transformation and peacebuilding ventures in Croatia and Israel/Palestine, while the fourth section interrogates the use of consensus building processes in Local Social Forums and in the Occupy Movement. Finally, on the 50th anniversary of the publication of Neil Smelser's A Theory of Collective Behavior, we close with a creative combining of Smelser's structural functionalist approach with social identity models for understanding crowd behaviors in the context of university party riots.

This volume of "Research in Social Movements, Conflicts, and Change" investigates gendered aspects of social activism and peacebuilding, an area of research that continues to be undertheorized. Gender cuts across all forms of conflict and all aspects of society politically, economically, and socially. As a basic organizing principle in society, gender roles, relations, and inequalities impact social processes. From a gender perspective, the transformation of society requires investigating the overlapping and intertwined root causes of conflict from the interpersonal to the community and structural level, and the critical role that women play in conflict resolution, peacebuilding, and social movements. With a focus on the agency of grassroots citizens, refugee, indigenous, and ethnic minority women, this volume seeks to bring light to gendered aspects of practice that will assist scholars and practitioners in research and policy development. From reconciliation commissions in Sierra Leone, environmental activists in the Czech Republic, women's organizations in Burmese refugee camps, women's work in conflict resolution rituals in Laos, Minutewomen's e-activism in the United States, to women's social networks in Uzbekistan, this book explores complex contexts and critical issues central to women's grassroots activism, peacebuilding, and social movements.

This latest volume in the "Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change" series contains three sections of data-driven articles that address topics central to scholarship on social movements and conflict resolution. Section One contains two papers on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, one focused on the Arab Israeli Land Day campaign and its implications for political process theory, while the other analyzes the emotional landscape of the long-running Women in Black vigils. Section Two contains four papers linked by their treatment of tactical and strategic issues associated with gender-based and gay and lesbian social movements, organizations, and their campaigns and activities. The two articles in Section Three treat themes associated with the complex intersection of identity formation and mobilization. As has long been the RSMCC series tradition, Volume 31 showcases top-level, original, and multi-method research on a variety of movements, organizations and conflicts in ways that contribute to theory-building.

This volume of Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change contains a strong collection of theoretically rich and data-driven papers, which address a series of interrelated questions that are at the forefront of today??'s social movement scholarship.

For example, political opportunity theory has been justly criticized for privileging structure over agency, politics over culture, and for failing to adequately specify how political opportunities differ for social movements in democracies vs. in non-democracies. In this volume, political opportunity theory receives careful, empirically-informed correctives from a number of quarters. In addition, a synthesis is achieved between nonviolent action scholarship and the contentious politics school of research. Equally important, the roles of collective identities, ideologies, identity talk, art, biographies, social networks, police repression, and participation pathways are analyzed within the context of social movements in the United States, Mexico, the Netherlands, India, Brazil, Northern Ireland, and in various non-democracies.

This is that too rare collection which when taken together builds bridges between scholarship on social movements and on social conflicts, and in the process makes theoretical advances in each area in much needed yet creative ways. In that way, this volume carries on the distinguished tradition of the Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change series.

Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change has now published continuously for over 40 years, and this volume continues its tradition of delivering data-driven and multi-method research by scholars who constantly push theory forward. Covering a compelling range of subjects, this important collection begins by addressing the critically important dimensions of the relationships that social movements, their activists, and their organizations have with the state and other institutions. It then moves on to examine three movements linked by frame and discourse analysis, before concluding with a survey of the biographical trajectory of activism. The contributions focus on a number of topical and crucially important issues, including, among others: environmental activism in China, the Black Lives Matter movement, the 2011 uprising in Tunisia, and Russian opposition movements. With a strong contributor team and a confident style, this volume is a significant addition to the RSMCC series and will be of great interest to those working and researching within the social movement field.

The contents of this volume reflect the multiple foci that have historically defined the series. We present here two papers on methodological issues facing the study of social movements, four papers on specific social movements or social movement organizations (including two on environmental movements), two papers on aspects of social change and inequality, and one study critically analyzing the conflict resolution prospects in a situation of protracted violence.

A long-standing characteristic of the Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change series is publishing new theoretical and empirical work that connects previously disparate sub-fields. This volume continues that tradition by opening with five papers that join social movements research with organizational theory, new institutionalism, strategic action fields, and nonviolent action. One study does this by examining how the Fenian Brotherhood organized a transnational revolutionary movement for Ireland's independence. Another paper analyzes the strategic relations between conservative, moderate and radical organizations in different movements, while a further study zeroes in on nonviolent action campaigns. One chapter examines how the North American SlutWalk campaign responded to the organizational field by strategically adapted their framing to make it more resonant transnationally. Other chapters examine how LGBT organizational presence influences the passage of hate crime legislation, and how the women's movement in Franco's Spain persevered through repression and abeyance partly due to cultural practices.