Contestations

2019 ◽  
pp. 139-172
Author(s):  
Chris Rossdale
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Political Change

This chapter considers how anti-militarists challenge militarised forms of contestation by prefiguring alternatives. The chapter opens by introducing again the concept of prefiguration, which holds that the means used to achieve political change will shape or become the ends that result. It then considers three distinct anti-militarist practices – peace camps, die-ins, and the use of humour – showing how each of these is guided by a desire to generate subjectivities and relationalities which do not reproduce militarism. In contrast, the last part of the chapter considers how anti-militarism is shaped not simply by opposition to militarism, but also by desire for it. Drawing on auto-ethnographic reflections, the discussion outlines how acknowledging the role of desire in social movements deepens the radical promise of prefiguration.

Kropotkin

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Kinna
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Political Change ◽  
Direct Action ◽  
The State ◽  
Social Analysis ◽  
Mutual Aid ◽  
Special Character ◽  
Revolutionary Politics

This book is designed to remove Peter Kropotkin from the framework of classical anarchism. By focusing attention on his theory of mutual aid, it argues that the classical framing distorts Kropotkin's political theory by associating it with a narrowly positivistic conception of science, a naively optimistic idea of human nature and a millenarian idea of revolution. Kropotkin's abiding concern with Russian revolutionary politics is the lens for this analysis. The argument is that his engagement with nihilism shaped his conception of science and that his expeditions in Siberia underpinned an approach to social analysis that was rooted in geography. Looking at Kropotkin's relationship with Elisée Reclus and Erico Malatesta and examining his critical appreciation of P-J. Proudhon, Michael Bakunin and Max Stirner, the study shows how he understood anarchist traditions and reveals the special character of his anarchist communism. His idea of the state as a colonising process and his contention that exploitation and oppression operate in global contexts is a key feature of this. Kropotkin's views about the role of theory in revolutionary practice show how he developed this critique of the state and capitalism to advance an idea of political change that combined the building of non-state alternatives through direct action and wilful disobedience. Against critics who argue that Kropotkin betrayed these principles in 1914, the book suggests that this controversial decision was consistent with his anarchism and that it reflected his judgment about the prospects of anarchistic revolution in Russia.

Socio-behavioral considerations in the role of violent social movements

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Lewis Bernard ◽  
George A. Backus ◽  
Walter E. Beyeler
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements

The Roles of Sufi Teachings in Social Movements: An HRD Perspective

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-223
Author(s):  
Nadir N. Budhwani ◽  
Gary N. McLean
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Human Resource Development ◽  
Collective Learning ◽  
Unconditional Love ◽  
The Social ◽  
Personal Experiences ◽  
Recommendations For Practice

The Problem There is a growing need to explore the role of the centuries-old tradition of Sufism and its teachings which, through social movements, have contributed to, and continue to influence, human resource development (HRD) at various levels—individual, group, organization, community, nation, and international. The Solution To address this need, we present cases of social movements inspired by Sufi teachings in selected parts of the world. We discuss, using literature and personal experiences, links among Sufi teachings, social movements, and HRD, and provide a framework for understanding Sufi teachings within the context of the social movement phenomenon. We end with recommendations for practice and research. The Stakeholders We target broadening the horizons of HRD researchers, practitioners, civil society members, and social movement activists, encouraging them to address long-term changes and collective learning through the quest for unconditional love and liberation, which represent the core of Sufi teachings.

scholarly journals The Role of NGOs in Building CSR Discourse around Human Rights in Developing Countries

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jae-Eun Noh
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Social Movements ◽  
Information Flow ◽  
Transnational Corporations ◽  
Development Projects ◽  
Global Networks ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
Development Ngos

As a response to increasing influences of transnational corporations (TNCs) over the lives of the poor, development NGOs have tried to promote their responsibility in cooperative ways: partnership in development projects and voluntary regulations. Notwithstanding some degree of success, these cooperative ways have failed to bring fundamental changes to TNCs. This article outlines the limitations of the mainstream corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the potential of grassroots social movements to make TNCs accountable. People in developing countries have been neglected in the CSR agenda; however, they have power to change corporations as labourers, consumers and citizens. Drawing on case studies, this article suggests that NGOs should support grassroots people in building global networks, constructing collective values and creating the information flow in order to overcome the current shortcomings of community-driven social movements. For these new roles as advocates and facilitators for grassroots movements, NGOs need to transform themselves by pursuing core values.  

Social movements, reframing investment relations, and enhancing the application of human rights norms in international investment law

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Moshe Hirsch
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Movements ◽  
International Investment ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Investment Law ◽  
Investment Arbitration ◽  
Public Pressure ◽  
Local Actors ◽  
Investment Law

Abstract The recent moderate trend to increasingly apply human rights law in investment awards is accompanied by certain new investment treaties which include expressed human rights provisions. An analysis of recent investment awards indicates that though there are some ‘winds of change’ in this field, it is equally noticeable that human rights law is far from being mainstreamed in international investment law. Investment arbitration procedural law is also undergoing a process of change, and the new procedural rules tend to enhance public elements in the investment arbitral system. This study is aimed at explaining these recent legal changes, highlighting the role of social movements in reframing investment relations as well as increasing public pressure to apply human rights law. These framing changes concern broadening the frame of investment arbitration (beyond the foreign investor–host state dyad), reversing the perceived balance of power between investors and host states, and zooming-in on local individuals and communities residing in host states. The discussion on factors impeding legal change in this field emphasizes the role of the private legal culture prevalent in the investment arbitration system, which is reflected and reinforced by certain resilient socio-legal frames. Informed by this analysis, the study suggests some legal mechanisms which can mitigate the inter-partes frame, and increase the application of human rights law in investment arbitration; inter alia, rigorous transparency rules that are likely to facilitate increased public pressure on tribunals and increase the participation of social movements representing local actors in arbitral processes.

Collective Memory and Social Movements: Football Sites of Memory in Supporters’ Activism

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Dino Numerato ◽  
Arnošt Svoboda
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Czech Republic ◽  
Collective Memory ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
European Level ◽  
Significant Component ◽  
The Czech Republic

This paper examines the role of collective memory in the protection of “traditional” sociocultural and symbolic aspects of football vis-à-vis the processes of commodification and globalization. Empirical evidence that underpins the analysis is drawn from a multisite ethnographic study of football fan activism in the Czech Republic, Italy, and England, as well as at the European level. The authors argue that collective memory represents a significant component of the supporters’ mobilization and is related to the protection of specific football sites of memory, including club names, logos, colors, places, heroes, tragedies, and histories. The authors further explain that collective memory operates through three interconnected dimensions: embedded collective memory, transcendent collective memory, and the collective memory of contentious politics.

Women Lawyers for Social Causes: Professional Careers and Legal Development in Thailand

2021 ◽  
pp. 97-132
Author(s):  
Frank W. Munger ◽  
Peerawich Thoviriyavej ◽  
Vorapitchaya Rabiablok
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Political Development ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
Processes Of Change ◽  
Professional Careers ◽  
Women Lawyers ◽  
Social Cause ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Social Causes

Women lawyers are increasing seen among the leading legal defenders of human rights and social movements in Thailand. Increasing visibility is partly a result of news coverage and social media, but women lawyers activism has far older roots. In this article, we examine two related processes of change that contribute to women’s emergence as leading social cause practitioners. First, we discuss the relationship between Thailand’s legal system and its social and political development since the end of the nineteenth century. Second, we employ career narratives of three women lawyers with innovative practices for social causes as a lens through which to examine how lawyers transform available resources into an identity, law practice, and law. We discuss not only the role of prior generations of women lawyers, connections between influential elites and social cause lawyers, and the founding of a few key organizations within the NGO community, but also the role of the women as architects of their own careers. We conclude that they have become successful by aligning their practices with emerging social movements and progressive bureaucrats, unexpectedly creating professional identities with somewhat different relationships to the rule of law.

Mobilizing Weak Support for Social Movements: The Role of Grievance, Efficacy, and Cost

Social Forces ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 390-409 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. G. Ennis ◽  
R. Schreuer
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Weak Support
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