scholarly journals Social Movements Seen as Radical Political Actors: The Case of the Polish Tenants’ Movement

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 683-696 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Jezierska ◽  
Dominika V. Polanska
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Political Actors

scholarly journals Gold Mining and Political Struggles for Access in Banyuwangi, East Java

PCD Journal ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-89
Author(s):  
Indah Surya Wardhani ◽  
Devy Dhian Cahyati
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Gold Mining ◽  
Alternative Explanation ◽  
New Materialism ◽  
Collective Actions ◽  
Structure Approach ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Political Struggles ◽  
Clean Air ◽  
Vital Element

This article explores how the materiality of natural resources influences social movements. Applying a relational paradigm and new materialism approach, this article explores the materiality of gold as a vital element of actor-network linkages, organisation, framing mechanisms, and recruitment. The transformation of gold from an ore into a mechanism for commodification reflects the interactions between capital holders, scientists, political actors, and legislators. This sociomaterial formation has limited residents' access to such resources as gold, water, land, wood, and clean air, and this momentum has given rise to a social movement in opposition to gold mining activities. This article shows that social movements are not monolithic, but rather dynamic movements that consist of various actors, issues, narratives, and strategies. This study focuses on the anti-mining movement in Tumpang Pitu, Banyuwangi, East Java, and its two decades of struggle to illustrate how the formation, networking, fragmentation, and evolution of social movements is influenced by their materiality (in this case, gold). This article finds that the commodification of gold influences movements' repertoires. This offers an alternative explanation for social movements, which have long been dominated by an actor–structure approach that views social movements as linear, monolithic, and constant collective actions that respond to marginalisation and injustice.

scholarly journals The Funny Side of Globalization: Humour and Humanity in Zapatista Framing

2007 ◽  
Vol 52 (S15) ◽  
pp. 21-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Olesen
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Decisive Role ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The Social ◽  
Subcomandante Marcos ◽  
The Way

This article argues that the literature on social movements and globalization has not paid sufficient attention to the way in which political actors who act globally try to overcome the social, cultural, and political distances that separate them. It introduces the concept of global framing to give focus to the discursive processes central to such “distance bridging”. In particular, it emphasizes how symbols and emotions are crucial in the framing of distance. Empirically, it discusses how the considerable global resonance created by the Zapatistas in Mexico is facilitated by a framing strategy, carried out mainly by the movement's spokesman, Subcomandante Marcos, in which humour, imperfection, and symbols play a decisive role.

Indigenous Politics and Resistance in Latin America: Continuity and Change

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pascal Lupien
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Collective Identity ◽  
Indigenous Movements ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Political Autonomy ◽  
Continuity And Change ◽  
High Profile ◽  
Indigenous Groups ◽  
Indigenous Social Movements

Indigenous social movements have become influential political actors in Latin America over the past three decades. Indigenous peoples continue to experience higher than average political, social and economic marginalization throughout the region. The powerful organizations created by Indigenous groups and the positive outcomes they have achieved despite these barriers have produced a body of research that examines how these social movements emerged, why some have succeeded in influencing policy, the construction of collective identity, and the strategies and tactics used. Indigenous movements have made claims based on their status as pre-colonial peoples; their demands include land rights, control over natural resources, cultural recognition, and political autonomy. Indigenous movements in countries such as Bolivia, Ecuador, and Mexico have used disruptive tactics such as marches and roadblocks to demand the attention of governments, the public and media. They have also strategically participated in building alliances across borders, supporting political parties, and undertaking legal action against powerful actors including the state and extractive industries. The high-profile Indigenous protest cycle that marked the 1990s and early 2000s across Latin America began to wind down during the first decade of the 21st century, but Indigenous movements continue to engage in both politics and protest. In the digital age, they have adapted their tactics to include social media and other technologies.

Democracy and representation

2019 ◽  
pp. 104-118
Author(s):  
Claude Lefort
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Labor Unions ◽  
English Translation ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Institutional Conditions ◽  
Claude Lefort ◽  
Mass Publics ◽  
Sciences Sociales

This chapter presents the first English translation of an essay that was originally presented in 1989 by Claude Lefort at the Colloquium on Latin America, sponsored by the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS), organized by Daniel Pécault. In this essay, Lefort affirms his important thesis regarding the disembodiment of power in representative democracy and begins to elaborate institutional conditions for its modern practice. He emphasizes that representation must be supported by independent political organizing by social movements and dissenting groups within institutions such as labor unions, schools, and hospitals. He also emphasizes the importance of participation, understood distinctively neither as voting nor as taking to the streets but as a feature of political judgment that he terms a “capacity to understand the political game,” a feature that he considers to be lacking where there exist great divides between elite political actors as mass publics.

The Zapatista Movement and Mexico's Democratic Transition

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
María Inclán
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Democratic Transition ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Political Opportunities ◽  
Zapatista Movement ◽  
Mexican State ◽  
Political Forces ◽  
Electoral Democracy

What happens to insurgent social movements that emerge during a democratic transition but fail to achieve their goals? How influential are they? Are they able to survive their initial mobilizing boom? Using the development of the Zapatista movement during Mexico’s democratic transition in the 1990s, this book seeks to answer these questions. The Zapatista movement is probably the best example of an influential and salient insurgent social movement emerging during a democratic transition that successfully mobilized sympathy and support for the indigenous agenda inside and outside of the country, yet failed to achieve its goals vis-à-vis the Mexican state. Why did such an influential movement fail to have its demands fully met? The answer is illustrated using a sliding door analogy to explain how the Zapatista movement developed within almost simultaneous openings and closings of political opportunities for its mobilization, success, and survival. Framing the relative achievements and failures of the movement within Mexico’s democratization is essential to understanding how social movements develop and survive and how responsive an electoral democracy can actually become. As such, this book offers a test of the quality of Mexico’s democracy and the resilience of the Zapatista movement, identifying the extent to which emerging political forces have incorporated dissident and previously excluded political actors into the new polity.

Contentious Institutions and Party Orders in American Politics

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Hejny ◽  
Adam Hilton
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Party Politics ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Party Development ◽  
State And Society ◽  
American Party ◽  
Over Time

What are political parties, and how and why do they change? These questions are foundational to party research, yet scholars of American parties disagree about the answers. In this paper we present a new theoretical framework capable of bridging these scholarly divides and coming to terms with American party politics today. We argue that political parties should be seen as fundamentally contentious institutions. Due to their mediating position between state and society, parties are subject to rival claims of authority from a range of political actors, including elected officeholders, party officials, interest groups, and social movements. To manage intraparty contention, win elections, and govern, entrepreneurs construct and maintain party orders -- institutional and ideational arrangements that foster an operational degree of cohesion and constraint through time. Together, the dynamics of intraparty contention and the rise and fall of distinct party orders over time illuminate the patterns of American party development.

Expansion of Women’s Political Participation through Social Movements: The Case of the Red and Yellow Shirts in Thailand

2016 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duanghathai Buranajaroenkij ◽  
Philippe Doneys ◽  
Kyoko Kusakabe ◽  
Donna L Doane
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
Political Knowledge ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
Political Implications ◽  
Political Roles ◽  
Political Agents

This study examines the political implications of women’s participation in social movements in Thailand. Based on interviews at protest sites and focus group discussions with movement participants as well as interviews with leaders and key informants, the study suggests that political socialization within what is commonly called the color-coded movements has resulted in women acquiring political knowledge and learning about political engagement while being increasingly accepted as competent political actors. Consequently, women have utilized the Red and Yellow Shirt movements to increase their engagement in politics in three different ways. First, women form groups to enhance their political roles and opportunities within the movements. Second, women are expanding their political roles beyond those offered by the color-coded movements by becoming informal representatives, bridging their communities with formal political agents and institutions. Finally, women are increasingly entering into formal politics through the support of their movements.

Redefining Alliances in the Struggle for Organizational Autonomy

2017 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 461-478 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anahi Morales Hudon
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
Indigenous Women ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Organizational Autonomy

AbstractThis paper aims to contribute to discussions around alliances and collaborations between feminisms. It analyses relations between movements in the development of indigenous women's organizational autonomy in Mexico. It seeks to understand how the struggle for autonomy involved a redefinition of the forms of collaboration by indigenous women in the consolidation of their movement. An intersectional perspective is proposed to better understand how power relations affect the organizing processes of social movements, as well as how organizations and individuals respond to and challenge them. I argue here that the redefinition of collaborations and alliances has been a key determinant in the organizing capacity of indigenous women to position themselves as autonomous political actors. From the analysis of two specific cases, this paper poses broader questions regarding representation and autonomy that may be applied towards a reflection of our feminist practices and discourses of solidarity.

The Art of Organizing

2021 ◽  
pp. 127-158
Author(s):  
Deva R. Woodly
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Organizational Structure ◽  
Political Change ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Political Organizing

The fourth chapter is an exploration both of the concept of organizing as distinct from mobilization, as an understudied yet critically important part of creating political change, and of the unique semi-federated organizational structure of the Movement for Black Lives. Political organizing, which is what leaders in social movements do, funds the capacity for political actors to recognize themselves as political subjects capable of acting, of creating something unexpected and new. It is not primarily about assembling a mass of people for a political cause (mobilization), nor “turning up” in defiance of authorities though protest (activism). In other words, political organizing is distinct from either mobilization or activism in that its result is not to do a thing but to become the kind of person who does what is to be done, and as such, it is of critical import to democracy itself.

A Grassroots Approach to the Democratic Role of the Internet in Developing Countries

2013 ◽  
pp. 218-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamed Ben Moussa
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Organizational Structures ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Social Movement Organizations ◽  
Power Relationships ◽  
Multiple Forms ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The North

This chapter explores the role of the Internet in collective action in Morocco, and examines the extent to which the medium has empowered civil society and social movements in the North African country. Drawing on in-depth interviews conducted with activists belonging to key social movement organizations, the article analyzes how the appropriation of the Internet in activism is mediated through the socioeconomic and political structures proper to Morocco as a semi-authoritarian and developing country. In so doing, it sheds light on various intersections between technology diffusion, social movements’ organizational structures, and multiple forms of power relationships among social and political actors. The article argues that the Internet has certainly transformed collective action repertoire deployed by Moroccan social movements; nevertheless, it also demonstrates that the impact of the Internet is conditioned by multiple forms of digital divides that are significantly shaping its implications for social and political change in the country.

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