Exploring insurgent urban mobilizations: from urban social movements to urban political movements?

2019 ◽  
pp. 369-382 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lazaros Karaliotas
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Political Movements ◽  
Urban Social Movements

Wenn stadtpolitische Bewegungen das Terrain des Staats betreten

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (191) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Diesselhorst
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
City Government ◽  
Housing Policies ◽  
Hierarchical Decision Making ◽  
Urban Social Movements ◽  
State Apparatus ◽  
Hierarchical Decision ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City

This article discusses the struggles of urban social movements for a de-neoliberalisation of housing policies in Poulantzian terms as a “condensation of the relationship of forces”. Drawing on an empirical analysis of the “Berliner Mietenvolksentscheid” (Berlin rent referendum), which was partially successful in forcing the city government of Berlin to adopt a more progressive housing policy, the article argues that urban social movements have the capacity to challenge neoliberal housing regimes. However, the specific materiality of the state apparatus and its strategic selectivity both limit the scope of intervention for social movements aiming at empowerment and non-hierarchical decision-making.

Barrio Women and Popular Politics in Chávez's Venezuela

2007 ◽  
Vol 49 (03) ◽  
pp. 97-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sujatha Fernandes
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Gender Roles ◽  
Women Activists ◽  
Community Leaders ◽  
Popular Politics ◽  
Women's Labor ◽  
Popular Participation ◽  
Grassroots Politics ◽  
Urban Social Movements ◽  
Hugo Chavez

Abstract Since President Hugo Chávez came to power in Venezuela in 1998, ordinary women from the barrios, or shantytowns, of Caracas have become more engaged in grassroots politics; but most of the community leaders still are men. Chávez's programs are controlled by male-dominated bureaucracies, and many women activists still look to the president himself as the main source of direction. Nevertheless, this article argues, women's increasing local activism has created forms of popular participation that challenge gender roles, collectivize private tasks, and create alternatives to male-centric politics. Women's experiences of shared struggle from previous decades, along with their use of democratic methods of popular control, help prevent the state from appropriating women's labor. But these spaces coexist with more vertical, populist notions of politics characteristic of official sectors of Chavismo. Understanding such gendered dimensions of popular participation is crucial to analyzing urban social movements.

scholarly journals Urban social movements in South Africa today: Its meaning for theological education and the church

2017 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephan F. De Beer
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Social Movements ◽  
Theological Education ◽  
Cape Town ◽  
Urban Social Movements ◽  
Gustavo Gutierrez ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Social ◽  
The City ◽  
The Church

In the past decade, significant social movements emerged in South Africa, in response to specific urban challenges of injustice or exclusion. This article will interrogate the meaning of such urban social movements for theological education and the church. Departing from a firm conviction that such movements are irruptions of the poor, in the way described by Gustavo Gutierrez and others, and that movements of liberation residing with, or in a commitment to, the poor, should be the locus of our theological reflection, this article suggests that there is much to be gained from the praxis of urban social movements, in disrupting, informing and shaping the praxis of both theological education and the church. I will give special consideration to Ndifuna Ukwazi and the Reclaim the City campaign in Cape Town, the Social Justice Coalition in Cape Town, and Abahlali baseMjondolo based in Durban, considering these as some of the most important and exciting examples of liberatory praxes in South Africa today. I argue that theological education and educators, and a church committed to the Jesus who came ‘to liberate the oppressed’, ignore these irruptions of the Spirit at our own peril.

scholarly journals Political Parties and Participative Approaches to Democracy

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristiano Gianolla
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Participatory Democracy ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Representative Democracy ◽  
Political Movements ◽  
Five Star Movement ◽  
Representative Model ◽  
The Relationship

Representative democracy is currenty facing strong social criticism for its incapacity to envolve people in a way that makes them part of the decision-making process. An existing gap between the representatives and the represented is hereby emphasized. In this space, the role of political parties is central in order to bridge society with institutions. How much are parties concerned about this issue? How and in which context do they interact more with their electorate and the wider society? Participatory democracy is emerging throughout the world in different forms and with different results, but the dominant pattern of democracy remains the liberal western democratic paradigm in which people can contribute barely through electing candidates. In order to achieve what Boaventura de Sousa Santos calls ‘democratisation of democracy’ the role of political parties is therefore fundamental in particular to achieve a more participative democracy within the representative model. This article approaches this theme through a bibliographic review comparing social movements and political parties with a focus on the innovation of the Five Star Movement in Italy. Finally, it provides a reading of the relationship between political parties andparticipation, including good practice and perspectives.KEYWORDS: Participation, political parties, social movements, political movements, representative democracy, participatory democracy.

Urban Social Movements and the Production of Urban Space

1981 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 239-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susana Finquelievich
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Urban Environment ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Small Groups ◽  
Research Work ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Social Classes ◽  
Power Relationships ◽  
Social Forces ◽  
Urban Social Movements

This article is a brief résumé of a three years' research work on urban social movements. A theoretical framework for the analysis of urban social movements is outlined and a methodology for their study is developed. The case of Barcelona is drawn on to illustrate the conclusions, and to demonstrate that urban movements can be social, e.g. that they can modify the power relationships between social classes. In the case of Barcelona these movements started when small groups of neighbours claimed better conditions in their urban environment and collective consumption, and have developed during the last fifteen years to become one of the most important social forces in the whole region of Catalonia, a force which cannot be ignored by the local authorities.

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