Deftly demonstrates how the rise and fall of social movements throughout history is closely linked to economic and political developments. In the early decades of the twenty-first century, an international movement to slow the pace of climate change mushroomed across the globe. The self-proclaimed Climate Justice movement urges immediate action to reduce carbon emissions and calls for the adoption of bold new policies to address global warming before irreversible and catastrophic damage threatens the habitability of the planet. On another front, since the 1980s, multiple waves of resistance have occurred around the world against the uneven transition from state-led development to the neoliberal globalization project. Both Climate Justice and Anti-Austerity movements represent the urgency of understanding how global change affects the ability of citizens around the world to mobilize and protect themselves from planetary warming and the loss of social protections granted in earlier eras. In Global Struggles and Social Change, Christopher Chase-Dunn and Paul Almeida explore how global change stimulates the formation and shape of such movements. Contending that large-scale economic shifts condition the pattern of social movement mobilizations around the world, the authors trace these trends back to premodern societies, revealing how severe disruptions of indigenous communities led to innovative collective actions throughout history. Drawing on historical case studies, world system and protest event analysis, and social networks, they also examine the influence of global change processes on local, national, and transnational social movements and explain how in turn these movements shape institutional shifts. Touching on hot-button topics, including global warming, immigrant rights protests, the rise of right-wing populism, and the 2008 financial crisis, the book also explores a broad range of premodern social movements from indigenous people in the Americas, Mesopotamia, and China. The authors pay special attention to periods of disruption and external threats, as well as the role of elites, emotions, charisma, and religion or spirituality in shaping protest movements. Providing sweeping coverage, Global Struggles and Social Change is perfect for students and anyone interested in globalization, international and comparative politics, political sociology, and communication studies.

This handbook covers social movement activities in Latin American countries that have had profound consequences on the political culture of the region. It examines the developments of the past twenty years, such as a renewed upswing in popular mobilization, the ending of violent conflicts and military governments, new struggles and a relatively more democratic climate. It shows that, from southern Chiapas to Argentina, social movements in the 1990s and especially in the 2000s, have reached new heights of popular participation. There is a lack of research on the politics of this region in the contemporary era of globalization, this volume partially fills the void and offers a rich resource to students, scholars and the general public in terms of understanding the politics of mass mobilization in the early twenty-first century. The contributors each address social movement activity in their own nation and together they present a multidisciplinary perspective on the topic. Each chapter uses a case study design to bring out the most prominent attributes of the particular social struggle(s), for instance the main protagonists in the campaigns, the grievances of the population and the outcomes of the struggles. This Handbook is divided into seven substantive themes, providing overall coherence to a broad range of social conflicts across countries, issues and social groups. These themes include: 1) theory of Latin American social movements; 2) neoliberalism; 3) indigenous struggles; 4) women's movements; 5) movements and the State; 6) environmental movements; and 7) transnational mobilizations.

This handbook covers social movement activities in Latin American countries that have had profound consequences on the political culture of the region. It examines the developments of the past twenty years, such as a renewed upswing in popular mobilization, the ending of violent conflicts and military governments, new struggles and a relatively more democratic climate. It shows that, from southern Chiapas to Argentina, social movements in the 1990s and especially in the 2000s, have reached new heights of popular participation. There is a lack of research on the politics of this region in the contemporary era of globalization, this volume partially fills the void and offers a rich resource to students, scholars and the general public in terms of understanding the politics of mass mobilization in the early twenty-first century. The contributors each address social movement activity in their own nation and together they present a multidisciplinary perspective on the topic. Each chapter uses a case study design to bring out the most prominent attributes of the particular social struggle(s), for instance the main protagonists in the campaigns, the grievances of the population and the outcomes of the struggles. This Handbook is divided into seven substantive themes, providing overall coherence to a broad range of social conflicts across countries, issues and social groups. These themes include: 1) theory of Latin American social movements; 2) neoliberalism; 3) indigenous struggles; 4) women's movements; 5) movements and the State; 6) environmental movements; and 7) transnational mobilizations.

Social Movements cleverly translates the art of collective action and mobilization by excluded groups to facilitate understanding social change from below. Students learn the core components of social movements, the theory and methods used to study them, and the conditions under which they can lead to political and social transformation. This fully class-tested book is the first to be organized along the lines of the major subfields of social movement scholarship-framing, movement emergence, recruitment, and outcomes-to provide comprehensive coverage in a single core text. Features include: use of real data collected in the U.S. and around the world the emphasis on student learning outcomes case studies that bring social movements to life examples of cultural repertoires used by movements (flyers, pamphlets, event data on activist websites, illustrations by activist musicians) to mobilize a group topics such as immigrant rights, transnational movement for climate justice, Women's Marches, Fight for $15, Occupy Wall Street, Gun Violence, Black Lives Matter, and the mobilization of popular movements in the global South on issues of authoritarian rule and neoliberalism With this book, students deepen their understanding of movement dynamics, methods of investigation, and dominant theoretical perspectives, all while being challenged to consider their own place in relation to social movements.

Paul Almeida's comparative study of the largest social movement campaigns that existed between 1980 and 2013 in every Central American country (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama) provides a granular examination of the forces that spark mass mobilizations against state economic policy, whether those factors are electricity rate hikes or water and health care privatization. Many scholars have explained connections between global economic changes and local economic conditions, but most of the research has remained at the macro level. "Mobilizing Democracy" contributes to our knowledge about the protest groups "on the ground" and what makes some localities successful at mobilizing and others less successful. His work enhances our understanding of what ingredients contribute to effective protest movements as well as how multiple protagonists--labor unions, students, teachers, indigenous groups, nongovernmental organizations, women's groups, environmental organizations, and oppositional political parties--coalesce to make protest more likely to win major concessions.

Based on extensive field research, archival data of thousands of protest events, and interviews with dozens of Central American activists, "Mobilizing Democracy" brings the international consequences of privatization, trade liberalization, and welfare-state downsizing in the global South into focus and shows how persistent activism and network building are reactivated in these social movements. Almeida enables our comprehension of global and local politics and policy by answering the question, "If all politics is local, then how do the politics of globalization manifest themselves?" Detailed graphs and maps provide a synthesis of the quantitative and qualitative data in this important study. Written in clear, accessible prose, this book will be invaluable for students and scholars in the fields of political science, social movements, anthropology, Latin American studies, and labor studies.

Civil society actors contested the fifty-year long transition to a global economy based on the principles of neoliberalism. Mobilization against neoliberal measures represents one of the most common forms of social-movement activity across the world. We explore the evolution of resistance to economic liberalization from the 1970s to the current period. Our study highlights several dimensions of civic opposition to the implementation of free market policies, including: forms of neoliberalism; geographic distribution of protest events across world regions and time; and outcomes of movement campaigns.

The two current trends of democratization and deepening economic liberalization have made Latin American countries a ground for massive defensive mobilization campaigns and have created new sites of popular struggle. In this edited volume on Latin American social movements, original chapters are combined with peer-reviewed articles from the well-regarded journal Mobilization. Four sections represent major themes in Latin American social movement research. An introductory section is followed by one discussing large-scale collective action by civil society against economic liberalization policies. The third section focuses on democratic transition in the context of neoliberalism. The fourth section examines two important cases of women's empowerment through protest mobilization, while the final section includes case studies on the strategic mobilization of Latin American movements. The volume includes original chapters on the Madres de Plaza de Mayo movement in Argentina and the Zapatista movement in Chiapas, Mexico. Also included in its coverage of the region's major movements are los piqueteros and antisweatshop labor organizing. This is the first study to focus closely on the related issues of neoliberal globalization, democratization, and the workings of transnational advocacy networks in Latin America.