scholarly journals Aspiring to alterpolitics

Focaal ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 (72) ◽  
pp. 3-8
Author(s):  
Riccardo Ciavolella ◽  
Stefano Boni
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political Anthropology ◽  
Social Imagination ◽  
End Of History ◽  
Occupy Movement ◽  
Current Economic Crisis ◽  
The Us ◽  
Western Hegemony ◽  
The Arab Spring

This theme section inquires into the contribution of political anthropology to radical theories, social imagination, and practices underlying political “alternatives”, which we propose to call “alterpolitics”. The issue of an alternative to contemporary powers in globalization is a central topic in social movements and radical debates. This sense of possibility for political alternatives is associated with the desertion of the belief in “the end of history”: the current economic crisis and the decline of Western hegemony presumably announce a radical transformation of the neoliberal world, opening space to alternatives. Actually, the reconfiguration of twentieth-century capitalism is associated with a growing mistrust of political institutions, the crisis being “organic”, in the Gramscian sense (Gramsci 1975). Recent social movements and insurrections around the world—from the “colored revolutions” in Central Asia to the Spanish indignados, the US Occupy movement, the Arab Spring, uprisings in Bosnia—have raised the issue of alternatives as a reaction to the incapacity of capitalist political institutions—from electoral democracy to dictatorships—to deal with people’s problems and meet their aspirations for emancipation and a better future.

scholarly journals Under different umbrellas: intersectionality and alliances in US feminist politics

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Myra Marx Ferree
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Republican Party ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Feminist Politics ◽  
The Us ◽  
Normative Order ◽  
Minority Ethnic

Macro-level forms of inequality work intersectionally to establish democracy normatively, as well as shape its institutions. Liberal democracies, once revolutionarily new political formations, rest on an equally revolutionary understanding of male domination based not on descent, but on economic arrangements (the new ‘breadwinner’ role) and political institutions (the ‘brotherhood’ national state). Over time, social movements have diminished liberal democracy’s original exclusions of women and minority ethnic men so that many citizens’ daily lives now contradict this once hegemonic normative order. The US party binary pushes contemporary movements to transform or restore this understanding of democracy under the political umbrellas of the competing Democratic and Republican parties. This polarisation then contributes to the gendering of movement claims and political representation. Gendered polarisation creates opportunities for cohesion among movements on both sides and yet blocks more fundamental reforms of US democracy.<br /><br />Key messages<br /><ul><li>Gendered democracy is undergoing transition from breadwinner-brotherhood.</li><br /><li>The binary US parties have become gendered antagonists.</li><br /><li>Agendas are restoration vs transformation of the brotherhood-breadwinner model.</li><br /><li>Social movements clustered under Democratic or Republican party umbrellas align with each other.</li></ul>

scholarly journals Krise und Protest in den Städten

2014 ◽  
Vol 44 (177) ◽  
Author(s):  
Henrik Lebhuhn
Keyword(s):  
Urban Space ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Political Movements ◽  
Current Crisis ◽  
Occupy Movement ◽  
The Us ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
Point Of Departure ◽  
Global Cycle

Researcher interested in social movements as well as political commentators agree that we have been witnessing a historically-specific cycle of global mobilizations since 2011. However, it seems much less clear what exactly political movements and uprising such as the Arab Spring, the European protests against austerity policies, and the US-Occupy movement have in common. This article takes the massive presence of movements in public spaces as a point of departure, and analyzes the global cycle of protests through an urban lense. Arguing that the process of neo-liberalization, the austerity measures aiming at the management of the current crisis, and people’s responses on the streets’ are strongly articulated through urban space, the article discusses similarities and differences between movements in various regional contexts.

scholarly journals Das praças para as urnas: movimentos dos Indignados e Occupy Wall Street | From squares to ballot: “Indignados” movement and Occupy Wall Street

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Paula Balthazar Tostes ◽  
Lucca Viersa Barros Silva
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Political Party ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Occupy Wall Street ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Wall Street ◽  
Presidential Primary ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Arab Spring

Após um longo período em que movimentos sociais pareciam estar em retração, desde o fim do ano de 2010 as sociedades civis em diversos países, com focos e dinâmicas diferentes, foram para as ruas. Neste artigo analisa-se dois movimentos advindos desse período de protestos, o Occupy Wall Street ocorrido nos Estados Unidos, e o movimentos dos Indignados (ou Movimento 15M) na Espanha. O objetivo desse artigo é contribuir para reflexão sobre as trajetórias distintas, mas em certa medida bem-sucedidas de dois movimentos sociais anti sistêmicos. Primeiro, o Movimento dos Indignados na Espanha, que se organizou e se institucionalizou, dando origem ao partido político Podemos. Segundo, o Occupy Wall Street, que não se desdobrou em um novo partido político, no entanto pode ser atribuído em parte à força política do senador Bernie Sanders nas eleições primarias do partido Democrata nos Estados Unidos em 2016.ABSTRACTAfter a long period in which social movements seemed to be in retraction,  since 2010 civil societies in many countries, with different focuses and dynamics, took the streets. Since the Arab Spring events until the manifestations in the US, Spain and even later in Brazil drove social scientists to continue with the social movements theme in search for the attempt to understand the protest and nonpartisan popular manifestations' reasons, impacts, differences and dynamics that took place over these years. This article analyzes two movements derived from this protest period, the Occupy Wall Street which happened in the US, and the “Indignados” movement (or 15M movement) in Spain. This article's goal is to contribute to the reflexion on the distinct path, but in a certain way well-succeeded of two anti-systemic movements that became popular, in particular from 2013. First, the “Indiganados” movement in Spain, which got organized and institucionalyzed and gave rise to the political party Podemos. Second, Occupy Wall Street, which didn't unfold into a new political party, but can be partially attributed to Bernie Sanders political strenght in the presidential primary elections of the Democratic party in the US in 2016.Palavras-chave: movimentos sociais; Occupy; Indignados; 15M; Podemos, eleições nos EUAKeywords: social movements; Occupy; Indignados; 15M; Podemos; elections in US DOI: 10.12957/rmi.2015.23761Recebido em 15 de Janeiro de 2016 | Received on January 15, 2016Aceito e, 28 de Janeiro de 2016 | Accepted January 28, 2016.   

scholarly journals New Social Movements as Postmodern Challanges To Neoliberalism and Representative Democracy

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Efe Tuğberk ÖZTÜRK ◽  
Aslı DALDAL
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Representative Democracy ◽  
The Other ◽  
New Social Movements ◽  
Student Protests ◽  
Occupy Movement ◽  
Suitable Concept ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
Legitimacy Crisis ◽  
The Relationship

In this article, the relationship between new social movements, representative democracy and neoliberalism is examined. Starting with student protests in Europe and the United State, the late 1960s have witnessed the emegence of new social movements. Ecological, anti-nuclear, feminist, student, anti-racist, and LGBTI+ protests all have been examined with the scope of the new social movements paradigm. The remarkable protest wave of the 1970s has been followed by contemporary movements in different forms like the Arab Spring and the Occupy movement. Although these movements differ in terms of issues they deal with and goals they seek, they have a lot in common. Unlike the old movements like labour protests, these new movements primarily focus on postmaterial issues. Postmaterial identity demands and rights of these movements conflict with material demands of neoliberal governments. Furthermore, modern democracies fail to address these issues. Representative democracy is seen as an obstacle to political participation. On the other hand, postmodernism is a suitable concept to explain internal discrepancies and dispersion of new social movements. It is argued that (a) the legitimacy crisis of representative democracy and neoliberal response of capitalism to its structural crisis have triggered new social conflicts and movements, (b) these movements differ from old movements in terms of their forms, goals, and demands, (c) new social movements are postmodern.

Russian Banking System under Conditions of Global Crisis

2009 ◽  
pp. 4-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Gref ◽  
K. Yudaeva
Keyword(s):  
Banking System ◽  
Commodity Prices ◽  
Financial Sector ◽  
Banking Crises ◽  
Economic Recovery ◽  
Balance Sheets ◽  
Current Economic Crisis ◽  
Risk Appetite ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Face

Problems in the financial sector were at the core of the current economic crisis. Therefore, economic recovery will only become sustainable after taking care of the major weaknesses in the financial sector. This conclusion is relevant both for the US and UK - the two countries where crisis has started, and for other economies which financial institutions turned out to be fragile in the face of the swings in the risk appetite. Russia is one of the countries where the crisis has revealed serious deficiency in the financial sector. Our study of 11 banking crises during the last 25-30 years shows that sustainable economic recovery and decrease in the dependence on commodity prices will be virtually impossible without cleaning of balance sheets and capitalization of the financial sector.

Prohibition, Legalization, and Political Consumerism

2018 ◽  
pp. 740-769 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth A. Bennett
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Drug Control ◽  
Psychoactive Substance ◽  
Political Consumerism ◽  
Control Laws ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Us

Cannabis (marijuana) is the most commonly consumed, universally produced, and frequently trafficked psychoactive substance prohibited under international drug control laws. Yet, several countries have recently moved toward legalization. In these places, the legal status of cannabis is complex, especially because illegal markets persist. This chapter explores the ways in which a sector’s legal status interacts with political consumerism. The analysis draws on a case study of political consumerism in the US and Canadian cannabis markets over the past two decades as both countries moved toward legalization. It finds that the goals, tactics, and leadership of political consumerism activities changed as the sector’s legal status shifted. Thus prohibition, semilegalization, and new legality may present special challenges to political consumerism, such as silencing producers, confusing consumers, deterring social movements, and discouraging discourse about ethical issues. The chapter concludes that political consumerism and legal status may have deep import for one another.

scholarly journals The integrative force of political institutions? Direct democracy and voter turnout across ethnic and nativity groups

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anita Manatschal
Keyword(s):  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
First Generation ◽  
The Us ◽  
Alternative Measures ◽  
Hispanic Voters ◽  
Democratic Elections ◽  
Positive Effect ◽  
Shed Light

AbstractMuch has been written on the positive effect of direct democracy (initiatives, referendums) on voter turnout. However, we have limited knowledge about potential differential effects on voters belonging to various ethnic groups. The paper argues that depending on a group’s responsiveness to the political context, direct democracy can (dis-)integrate voters (from) into the electorate. Empirical analysis of Current Population Survey (CPS) voting supplement survey data, together with data on the absolute use of direct democracy across US states, corroborates this theoretical expectation, however lending more support for the disintegrating assumption. Frequent direct democratic elections further widen the negative voting gap between first-generation Asian voters and voters living in the US for three generations or longer, whereas they tend to diminish this voting gap for first-generation Hispanic voters. The disintegrative pattern for first-generation Asian voters remains even significant when excluding California from the state sample, yet not the integrative tendency for first-generation Hispanics. Additional analyses using alternative measures of direct democracy and voting, and applying statistical adjustments to address causality concerns, confirm the robustness of these findings, which shed light on the so-far underexplored (dis-)integrative potential of political institutions.

scholarly journals MOVIMIENTOS SOCIALES E INTEGRACIÓN REGIONAL: EL CASO DE LA ARTICULACIÓN DE MOVIMIENTOS SOCIALES HACIA EL ALBA

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (16) ◽  
pp. 157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karla Díaz Martínez
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Regional Integration ◽  
Free Trade Area ◽  
Trade Area ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Entity ◽  
The Us ◽  
America Latina ◽  
Movimientos Sociales

El ALBA es un espacio de integración regional, alternativo al alca propuesto por EEUU, que inaugura una etapa denominada regionalismo posneoliberal. El ALBA desde sus orígenes ha contado con el acompañamiento de movimientos sociales de carácter antiimperialista y antineoliberal. La propia organización generó una instancia social: el Consejo de Movimientos Sociales; sin embargo, los movimientos sociales han generado de forma paralela y autónoma la Articulación de Movimientos Sociales hacia el ALBA. Este trabajo da cuenta de las características de este espacio de articulación social, a partir de propuestas teóricas pensadas en América Latina, y presenta un balance de las potencialidades y los desafíos de los movimientos sociales en el escenario latinoamericano y su influencia en la integración regional.   SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AND REGIONAL INTEGRATION: THE ARTICULATION OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS TOWARD ALBAABSTRACTALBA (the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our Americas) is a regional integration entity created as an alternative to the US-proposed FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas, ALCA in Spanish). ALBA inaugurates a period that has been referred to as post-neoliberal regionalism. Since its origin, ALBA has been accompanied by social movements with an anti-imperialistic and anti-neoliberal stance. ALBA, itself, generated a social entity: the Social Movements Council. However, in a parallel and autonomous way, the social movements created the Articulation of Social Movements toward ALBA. This article describes the characteristics of this entity for social articulation based on theoretical proposals developed in Latin America, and presents a balance of the potentialities and challenges of social movements in Latin America and their incidence in regional integration.

scholarly journals Arab Spring Failure: A Case Study of Egypt and Syria

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-53
Author(s):  
Raid Khan ◽  
Amna Mahmood ◽  
Asif Salim
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Military Coup ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
The Military ◽  
Democratic Norms ◽  
Rule Out

The Arab Spring was assumed to reform the prevailing regime pattern and to bring socio-economic reforms. However, it failed to get its intended outcomes at large. The objectives of the revolution that are to bring a positive transformation in the social, economic, and political domains were not attained effectively and was considered a failed revolution in the case of Egypt and Syria. The present paper focuses on exploring the reasons and factors behind its failure in the particular context of Egypt and Syria. Although Egypt observed regime transition from dictatorship to democracy, yet within one and a half year, a military coup overthrew the democratically elected government of Mohammad Morsi, and the military regime was reinstalled. In the case of Syria, since 2011, a civil war is going on where Bashar-ul-Asad still holds dictatorial powers. The study reveals that the lack of stable political institutions, weak democratic norms, and the absence of a vibrant civil society paved the way for state authorities to rule out the attempts of protestors. Excluding a few of the countries, the rest of the Middle Eastern countries are still ruled by the powerful elites. The successes of the Arab Spring are still to be awaited.

Eine Gabe an St. Nimmerlein? - Zur zeitlichen Dimension der Schuldenbremse

2010 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 246-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Friedrich Heinemann
Keyword(s):  
Disposable Income ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Northern European ◽  
Current Economic Crisis ◽  
Automatic Stabilizer ◽  
The Us ◽  
Income Shock ◽  
Large Heterogeneity ◽  
Automatic Stabilizers ◽  
The Eu

AbstractThis paper analyzes the effectiveness of the tax and transfer systems in the European Union and the US to act as an automatic stabilizer in the current economic crisis. We consider two scenarios: a proportional income shock and a shock on employment which increases the rate of unemployment.We find that automatic stabilizers absorb 38 per cent of a proportional income shock in the EU, compared to 32 per cent in the US. In the case of an unemployment shock 48 per cent of the shock is absorbed in the EU, compared to 34 per cent in the US. Under the assumption that only credit constrained households adjust current spending on consumption goods to current disposable income, the cushioning of disposable income leads to a demand stabilization of 26 to 35 per cent in the EU and 19 per cent in the US. There is large heterogeneity within the EU. Automatic stabilizers in Eastern and Southern Europe are much lower than in Central and Northern European countries. With respect to income stabilization, Germany is above the European average for both scenarios. Demand stabilization in Germany is weaker because the number of liquidity constrained households is below the EU average.

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