Migration Policies and Uncertainty

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 28-45
Author(s):  
Jeanne Rey
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Political Activism ◽  
Religious Community ◽  
Migration Policies ◽  
Social Forms ◽  
New Perspective

Abstract This article addresses the role of migrant congregations as civil society players through the practice of prayer. By combining the notion of political activism and the theory of subjectivation, it offers a new perspective on Pentecostal practice and migrant congregations in Europe as a way of addressing uncertainty linked to migration policies and mobility regimes. In Switzerland, where conditions for migrants have become increasingly restrictive, political and social forms of exclusion are challenged by African Pentecostal migrants who engage in prayer that contests restrictions on mobility, assignation to subaltern positions, as well as other forms of discrimination. Yet, this ritual resistance rarely takes the form of a political action; neither does it formulate concrete claims towards immigration procedures and policies. Rather, it is expressed through prayer in the protective space of a religious community, allowing the migrants to reassess subjectivations and to imagine new subjectivities.

Indymedia in Belgium: the delicate balance between media activism and political activism

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (6) ◽  
pp. 1031-1038
Author(s):  
Robin Van Leeckwyck ◽  
Pieter Maeseele ◽  
Maud Peeters ◽  
David Domingo
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Activism ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
European Countries ◽  
The Political ◽  
Media Activism ◽  
The Media ◽  
Original Website

Belgium was one of the first European countries to establish a local ‘national’ branch of the global Indymedia network. The diversity of those involved in this ‘national movement’ ultimately turned out to be both the strength of the original website and the cause of its decline. Indeed, due to political and organizational disagreement, many activists decided to create their own ‘local’ Independent Media Centre (IMC). This article distinguishes two perspectives on the role of Indymedia: the political activists saw Indymedia as a means to an end, as an instrument to discuss strategies and tactics, and to coordinate social movements and grassroots movements. The media activists, on the contrary, saw Indymedia as an end in itself, as a platform for civil society organizations to make their voices heard and facilitate democratic debate – in this vein, the experience of Indymedia.be was transformed into the alternative news site DeWereldMorgen.be.

The multispatial governance of social and economic policy

2020 ◽  
pp. 155-174
Author(s):  
Bob Jessop
Keyword(s):  
Economic Policy ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Capital Accumulation ◽  
Political Action ◽  
The Body ◽  
Capitalist Society ◽  
Social Body ◽  
The Social ◽  
Politics Of The Body

This chapter distinguishes Foucault’s approach from the work of Anglo-Foucauldian scholars. The latter adopted a microsocial perspective, focused on the programmes and rationalities of government that work across multiple alliances between different actors, and argued for bottom-up civil society responsibilization. Foucault was not only state-phobic but also suspicious of political action based on civil society. His theoretical interests shifted from the micro-physics of disciplinary society and its anatomo-politics of the body to the more general strategic codification of a plurality of discourses, practices, technologies of power, and institutional ensembles around a specific governmental rationality concerned with the social body (bio-power) in a consolidated capitalist society. This is reflected in the statification of government and the governmentalization of the state. This led to his analyses of sovereignty, territorial statehood, and state power and the role of civil society in this regard and to less well-substantiated claims about their articulation to the logic of capital accumulation.

scholarly journals The Effectiveness of Restrictive Migration Policies: Evidence from Liberal Democracies

2019 ◽  
Vol IV (IV) ◽  
pp. 118-126
Author(s):  
Ayaz Ali Shah ◽  
Sheraz Khan ◽  
Iftikhar Ali
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
Security Threats ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
Migration Policies ◽  
Job Opportunities ◽  
The Government

There has been an increased quest for more restrictive policies to control migration in liberal democracies. As migrants are perceived to pose security threats as well as grab job opportunities from locals, this has resulted in developing a nativist stance. However, the effectiveness of these policies has always been a question of debate in academic circles. Despite the erection of restrictive migration policies, migration has kept on going up. This article tries to explore those reasons. In the first place, liberal traditions in democracies where fundamental rights are never compromised and where the judiciary plays the role of the watchman on executive authorities have not allowed the governments to enforce these policies in their entirety. On many occasion, even these policies have been declared void by the judges. The role of civil society and NGOs in these countries has also worked to the advantage of migrants against the government.

Contested Practice: Political Activism in Nursing and Implications for Nursing Education

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen Buck-McFadyen ◽  
Judith MacDonnell
Keyword(s):  
Nursing Education ◽  
Nursing Students ◽  
Nurse Educators ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Political Activism ◽  
Rational Approach ◽  
Purposeful Sampling ◽  
Life History Study

AbstractCanadian nurses have a social mandate to address health inequities for the populations they serve, as well as to speak out on professional and broader social issues. Although Canadian nursing education supports the role of nurses as advocates for social justice and leadership for health care reform, little is known about how nurse educators understand activism and how this translates in the classroom. A comparative life history study using purposeful sampling and a critical feminist lens was undertaken to explore political activism in nursing and how nurse educators foster political practice among their students. Findings from interviews and focus groups with 26 Ontario nurse educators and nursing students suggested that neoliberal dynamics in both the practice setting and in higher education have constrained nurses’ activist practice and favour a technical rational approach to nursing education. Implications and strategies to inspire political action in nursing education are discussed.

scholarly journals Change by Activism: Insurgency, Autonomy, and Political Activism in Potosí-Jerusalén, Bogotá, Colombia

2022 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-81
Author(s):  
Juan Usubillaga
Keyword(s):  
Urban Design ◽  
Design Theory ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Political Activism ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Urban Transformation ◽  
Urban Spaces ◽  
Complex Nature ◽  
The One

Cities today face a context in which traditional politics and policies struggle to cope with increasing urbanisation rates and growing inequalities. Meanwhile, social movements and political activists are rising up and inhabiting urban spaces as sites of contestation. However, through their practices, urban activists do more than just occupy spaces; they are fundamental drivers of urban transformation as they constantly face—and contest—spatial manifestations of power. This article aims to contribute to ongoing discussions on the role of activism in the field of urban design, by engaging with two concepts coming from the Global South: <em>insurgency</em> and <em>autonomy</em>. Through a historical account of the building of the Potosí-Jerusalén neighbourhood in Bogotá in the 1980s, it illustrates how both concepts can provide new insight into urban change by activism. On the one hand, the concept of insurgency helps unpack a mode of bottom-up action that inaugurates political spaces of contestation with the state; autonomy, on the other hand, helps reveal the complex nature of political action and the visions of urban transformation it entails. Although they were developed at the margins of conventional design theory and practice, both concepts are instrumental in advancing our understanding of how cities are shaped by activist practices. Thus, this article is part of a broader effort to (re)locate political activism in discussions about urban transformation, and rethink activism as a form of urban design practice.

Research on Internal-External Control and Social-Political Activism: A Note and Bibliography

1974 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 619-621 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen I. Abramowitz
Keyword(s):  
Locus Of Control ◽  
Crucial Role ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Political Activism ◽  
External Control ◽  
Political Involvement ◽  
Personal Meanings ◽  
Motivational Constructs

Empirical inconsistencies in the locus of control and social-political action literature are noted and attributed, in part, to observers' tendency to overlook the potentially crucial role of the personal meanings of the actor's political involvement. Increased attention to these motivational constructs and to the development of techniques for assessing them is encouraged.

Istanbul sounding like revolution: the role of music in the Gezi Park Occupy movement

Popular Music ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 212-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raffaella Bianchi
Keyword(s):  
Social Movement ◽  
Collective Identity ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Political Activism ◽  
Cultural Analysis ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Protest Music ◽  
Occupy Movement

AbstractThis article focuses on the role of protest music in the biggest social movement of recent Turkish history. It is the result of three years of fieldwork triangulating musical and cultural analysis with ethnographic methods. Motives of the protest, strategies of the movement, agency of musicians and participatory performances are investigated and contextualised in an analysis of Turkey's cultural changes. The function of music shifted from framing the protest to encouraging political action and fostering a sense of belonging to the collective identity of the Gezi Park movement. Music even became political activism. By underlining different functions played by music in the case of the Gezi Park movement, this article problematises the relevance of music for social movements.

scholarly journals The Myth of Civil Society’s Democratic Role: Volunteerism and Indonesian Democracy

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 237
Author(s):  
Hurriyah Hurriyah
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Political Activism ◽  
Democratic Consolidation ◽  
Democratic Process ◽  
Collective Actions ◽  
Election Process ◽  
Realistic Assessment

Is a flourishing civil society’s political activism positively correlated with the deepening of Indonesian democracy? This article addresses this question by examining the role of civil society in the 2014 presidential election in Indonesia, focusing on the collective actions of volunteer groups (known as Gerakan Relawan) that shaped both the election process and its result. While some studies on civil society activism in the 2014 presidential election suggested the connection between the role of volunteer movement and the democratic process in Indonesia, this paper suggests that the overpraised assumptions regarding the connection between civil society’s role and democratic consolidation, in the case of volunteer movement, needs to be reconsidered. This paper argues that although the activism of the volunteer movement has positively contributed to the democratic process of the 2014 election, however, realistic assessment of the volunteer movement confirms its problematic nature and the limits of volunteer activism that may contribute to the disconnection of civil society and democratic consolidation in the country.

scholarly journals Activism as political action in Uganda: The role of social media

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 283-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florence Namasinga Selnes ◽  
Kristin Skare Orgeret
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Political Activism ◽  
The Political ◽  
Media Freedom ◽  
The Media ◽  
Political Divide

The article discusses political activism in Uganda and the role of social media. It focuses on two specific cases, the 2011 ‘Walk-to-Work’ and the 2017 ‘Pads4Girls’ campaigns in order to contribute to better understanding of the ever-evolving dynamic between political activism and the media in such campaigns. A disputed presidential election in 2011 in Uganda prompted opposition politicians to call nationwide protests. The architects of the protests hoped this would eventually lead to the downfall of Museveni’s newly elected government. The ‘Pads4Girls’ campaign on the other hand, was spearheaded by a female academic activist and provoked unprecedented response from politicians across the political divide, activists and unaffiliated individuals who added weight to the campaign. The article’s discussions feed into a broader conversation on the interaction of media and politics in semi-democratic contexts such as Uganda, where attempts to curtail media freedom and freedom of expression are frequent.

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