Contentious Politics and Social Movements

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sidney Tarrow ◽  
Charles Tilly
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Many

This article discusses contentious politics and social movements, specifically during the Philippines' turmoil of January 2001. It first defines ‘contentious politics’, and then relates it to social movement. It identifies the many ways of studying the dynamics of contention and ends with a study of democracy, violence, and several questions of the future of social movements.

Taiwan's State and Social Movements Under the DPP Government, 2000–2004

2005 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 401-425 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ming-sho Ho
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Economic Recession ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
Political Orientation ◽  
Democratic Progressive Party ◽  
Opportunity Structure ◽  
Conservative Policy ◽  
Movement Strategy ◽  
Progressive Party

This article explores the evolution of social movement politics under the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government (2000–2004) by using the perspective of political opportunity structure. Recent “contentious politics” in Taiwan is analyzed in terms of four changing dimensions of the opportunity structure. First, the DPP government opens some policy channels, and social movement activists are given chances to work within the institution. Yet other features of the political landscape are less favorable to movement activists. Incumbent elites' political orientation shifts. As the economic recession sets in, there is a conservative policy turn. Political instability incurs widespread countermoblization to limit reform. Last, the Pan-Blue camp, now in opposition, devises its own social movement strategy. Some social movement issues gain political salience as a consequence of the intervention of the opposition parties, but its excessive opportunism also encourages the revolt of antireform forces. As a result of these countervailing factors, social movements have made only limited gains from the recent turnover of power.

scholarly journals Genocide as Contentious Politics

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aliza Luft
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Political Violence ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
Social Movement Theory ◽  
Final Version ◽  
Movement Theory ◽  
History Of ◽  
Convergence And Divergence

Preprint, final version in Sociology Compass available at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/soc4.12304/fullDespite a recent turn towards the study of political violence within the field of contentious politics, scholars have yet to focus their lens on genocide. This is puzzling, as the field of collective action and social movements was originally developed in reaction to fascism (Nazism in particular), while research on collective action and research on genocide has long shown parallel findings and shared insights. This paper reviews the history of this scholarly convergence and divergence, and suggests that recent findings of research on genocide can be improved by the consideration of concepts from social movements and collective action. It then details three theories of the micro-mechanisms that mobilize individuals for contention – framing, diffusion, and networks – and specifies how they refine existing explanations of civilian participation in genocide. In the conclusion, I suggest that a contentious politics approach to genocide would consider it one form of collective action among others, analyzable within the existing framework of collective action and social movement theory.

scholarly journals Thinking and theorising about activism: who and how?

2009 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 166-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Humphrys
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Global Justice ◽  
Movement Analysis ◽  
Social Forces ◽  
Antonio Gramsci ◽  
The Future

This article overviews the following three articles in the journal, which arise from the 2008 conference Other Worlds 2: After the Neo-Con Men. The article responds to an issue raised across the papers regarding social movement knowledge and theory: what is the tension between analysis produced inside the academy and that which arises from within movements. And how can theory can be developed in a way that both takes into account the viewpoint and needs of the historical players whose activity is shaping the future (social movement actors) and the wider social forces that give rise to and shape the struggles those players are involved in. It is argued that the new movements around globalisation and global justice have reasserted 'activism' as a key component of social movement analysis, challenging academics to engage with social movements in a more direct way and to ensure their output is relevant to that audience. It is argued that the concept of the ‘organic intellectuals’, outlined by Italian Marxist philosopher Antonio Gramsci, has particular utility.

scholarly journals Advances in social movement theory since the global financial crisis

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 376-390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugene Nulman ◽  
Raphael Schlembach
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Theoretical Work ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
Levels Of Analysis ◽  
Occupy Movement ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
The Global Financial Crisis

The social movement literature in Western Europe and North America has oriented much of its theoretical work towards micro-, meso-, and macro-level examinations of its subject of study but has rarely integrated these levels of analysis. This review article broadly documents the leading theoretical perspectives on social movements, while highlighting the contributions made in recent years with regard to the wave of protests across the globe – typified by the Occupy Movement and the ‘Arab Spring’ – and grievances that are relatively novel in qualitative or quantitative form such as austerity, precarity, and a sense of democratic deficiency. While these novel social processes have invigorated the specialized arena of ‘social movement studies’ and generated a resurgence of work on social movements beyond the field, this article argues for the need to interconnect levels of analysis in order to develop a more insightful account of contemporary contentious politics.

scholarly journals Beyond contention: urban social movements and their multiple approaches to secure transformation

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 557-574 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana Mitlin
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Global South ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
Social Movement Organizations ◽  
Alternative Strategies ◽  
Urban Social Movements ◽  
Poverty And Inequality ◽  
Movement Organizations

This paper explores the strategies of social movement organizations working in towns and cities of the global South to secure justice for their members and address poverty and inequality. The paper argues that there has been a false distinction between alternative strategies of resistance. Drawing on research in Kenya and South Africa, I argue that, rather than seeing strategies of contention, collaboration and subversion as separate approaches, they can best be understood as alternative strategies, adopted simultaneously and iteratively by urban social movements. Movements, I suggest, move among contentious politics, efforts at collaboration with the state, and subversion (often taking the form of encroachment), to address the survival imperatives of their members.

scholarly journals The Contribution of Social Movement Theory to Understanding Genocide

Contention ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Aliza Luft
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Political Violence ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
Social Movement Theory ◽  
Rwandan Genocide ◽  
Movement Theory ◽  
History Of Research ◽  
History Of

Recent years have witnessed a turn in the field of contentious politics toward the study of political violence, yet scholars have yet to focus their lens on genocide. Moreover, research on genocide is characterized by fundamental disagreements about its definition, origins, and dynamics, leading to a lack of generalizable theory. As a remedy, this article suggests that research on genocide can be improved by incorporating concepts from social movements. After reviewing the history of research on social movements and genocide, I analyze civilian participation in the Rwandan genocide as an example of how social movement theory helps explain civilian mobilization for genocide. Finally, I propose that a contentious politics approach to genocide would consider it one among many forms of contentious collective action, analyzable within the existing framework of social movement theory.

Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Jun Liu
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Mobile Communication ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
Chinese Society

The introduction assesses and identifies lacunae and challenges in the existing literature on ICTs and contentious collective action. Through a survey of relevant scholarship on social movement and contentious politics, this chapter proposes to explicitly make communication a key element in a tripartite framework of contentious politics and social movements and, further, to regard communication as an intermediary between ICTs and contentious collective action. The introductory chapter further elucidates the embeddedness of mobile communication technologies within Chinese society and, thus, it has become a context for (political) action as well and can therefore have an impact on contentious politics.

Zapatistas between Sliding Doors of Opportunity

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
María Inclán
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Social Movement Organizations ◽  
Democratic Regime ◽  
Zapatista Movement ◽  
The World ◽  
The Future ◽  
Guerrilla Movements ◽  
Movement Organizations

This chapter summarizes the main arguments of the book and offers an explanation of why a seemingly successful insurgent social movement might be able to mobilize sympathy and support for its agenda but fail to force state authorities to address its demands. The conclusion is that despite relative failures, through protest mobilization and the support of solidaristic social movement organizations, insurgent social movements like the Zapatista movement may be able to survive as salient actors within a new democratic regime and as iconic figures among other social movements around the world. This chapter also compares the fate of the Zapatista movement to the outcomes of other social, indigenous, and guerrilla movements within different transitional conditions and offer some expectations for the future of Mexico’s democracy.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document