The Negative Impact of Shining Path on Indigenous Mobilization in Peru: An Approach from Political Opportunity and New Social Movements Theories

The rise of Shining Path in the rural areas of Peru and its revolutionary war between 1980 and 1992 contributed significantly to the weakening of indigenous mobilization in that country. From the perspective of a combination of political opportunity and new social movements theories, Shining Path took advantage of a history of rural isolation and a political vacuum to take control of rural areas and impose extreme repression of counterrevolutionary mobilization. It systematically pressured the indigenous communities to collaborate with it and embrace a materialist-based peasant identity. At the same time, the erratic and disproportionate response of the government negatively affected the indigenous communities. Merging the two theories allows a better understanding of this situation. El ascenso de Sendero Luminoso en las zonas rurales del Perú y su guerra revolucionaria entre 1980 y 1992 contribuyeron significativamente al debilitamiento de la movilización indígena en dicho país. Desde la perspectiva combinada de la teoría oportunidades políticas y nuevas teorías de movimientos sociales, Sendero Luminoso aprovechó una historia de aislamiento rural y un vacío político para tomar el control de las zonas rurales y llevar a cabo una represión extrema de la movilización contrarrevolucionaria. Presionó sistemáticamente a las comunidades indígenas para que colaboraran y adoptaran una identidad campesina de base materialista. Al mismo tiempo, la respuesta errática y desproporcionada del gobierno también afectó negativamente a las comunidades indígenas. La fusión de las dos teorías permite una mejor comprensión de esta situación.

New Social Movements as Postmodern Challanges To Neoliberalism and Representative Democracy

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.

Fueling the Populist Divide: Nativist and Cosmopolitan Preferences for Representation at the Elite and Mass Level

Although populist leaders often employ an anti-elite discourse which presents the elite as unable or unwilling to represent ordinary citizens, we know very little about who elites actually think should be represented, or how this differs, if at, all from what ordinary citizens want. In this article we find that there is a considerable difference between the groups that voters want to see represented in parliament and those which political elites want to see represented. In particular, we find that political elites tend to hold far more ‘cosmopolitan’ preferences than ordinary voters, and prioritize the representation of greater diversity in parliament based on the groups politicised by the new social movements and identity politics of the 60s and 70s, such as women, ethnic minorities, LGBT and the disabled. By contrast, voters more often hold nativist preferences than political elites and more often prioritize the representation of groups such as the working class, and white local people. Moreover, British voters who hold nativist preferences of political representation are more likely to be politically alienated and more likely to support Brexit.

The evolving quality and scope of new social movements: Toronto food security organizations mobilizing for change.

"This research project investigates some contemporary urban aspects of the politics of food. Taking social movement theory as my theoretical framework, this paper examines the ways in which the practices and services of Toronto organizations such as the Stop Community Food Centre, FoodShare, and Not Far From The Tree promote countercultural food ideologies and thus may be viewed as actors attempting to influence political and social change through food. While individual organizations should not be confused with social movements, it is possible that we may be able look at this ensemble of organizations as an informal network that exemplifies a new contemporary form of social movement."--Pages 3-4.

The evolving quality and scope of new social movements: Toronto food security organizations mobilizing for change.

"This research project investigates some contemporary urban aspects of the politics of food. Taking social movement theory as my theoretical framework, this paper examines the ways in which the practices and services of Toronto organizations such as the Stop Community Food Centre, FoodShare, and Not Far From The Tree promote countercultural food ideologies and thus may be viewed as actors attempting to influence political and social change through food. While individual organizations should not be confused with social movements, it is possible that we may be able look at this ensemble of organizations as an informal network that exemplifies a new contemporary form of social movement."--Pages 3-4.

Two Theories of Hegemony: Stuart Hall and Ernesto Laclau in Conversation

This essay stages a critical conversation between Stuart Hall and Ernesto Laclau, comparing their different appropriations of Antonio Gramsci’s theory of hegemony. In the 1980s, Hall and Laclau engaged with Gramsci and with one another in order to conceptualize what they regarded as a triangular relation between the rise of Thatcherism, the crisis of the Left, and the emergence of new social movements. While many of their readers emphasize the undeniable similarities and mutual influences that exist between Hall and Laclau, this essay focuses on the differences between their theories of hegemony and locates the starkest contrast between them at the level of theoretical practice. While the main lesson that Hall drew from Gramsci was the privileging of conjunctural analysis, Laclau proceeded to locate the concept of hegemony at a higher level of abstraction, developing a political ontology increasingly indifferent to any specific conjuncture. The essay argues that this difference between conjunctural analysis and political ontology has a significant impact on Hall’s and Laclau’s respective understandings of two key political formations: populism and identity politics. Thus by focusing on these two formations, the essay argues that Hall’s work should not be read as a derivative or even undertheorized version of Laclau’s, for this tendency obscures substantial differences between their interventions as well as the fact that Hall’s theory of hegemony, as a theory of the conjuncture, ultimately possesses stronger explanatory power than Laclau’s political ontology.

Key concepts for participatory ideology

This chapter focuses on three further ideas and issues that are key for advancing participatory ideology: empowerment, language, and knowledge. The chapter examines each in more detail, focusing first on the theoretical discussion of making social and political change, as this is at the heart of this book's project. It explores the concept of empowerment, a unique two-part idea for making change, which highlights the need for personal change as a prerequisite for participation in political change. It also traces the idea's origins, its conceptualisation, different meanings, and what works to make it possible. The chapter then looks at language and its importance for ideology; how it is used to reinforce inequalities, impose power and manipulate people, and how this has been and can be challenged. Ultimately, the chapter investigates knowledge; the role it has long been given to legitimate ruling ideologies, and how revolutionary and new social movements have highlighted and challenged this. It reviews the emergence of experiential knowledge as an important part of this challenge and the important role it serves in helping to democratise knowledge and political ideology.

A different approach to ideology

This chapter's main focus is reconnecting ideology and participation. It begins to look at a different approach to political ideologies, where the aim is to make possible our effective participation in them. The chapter highlights that this represents a fundamental change in approach to ideology, one that begins with how we try to examine and discuss the concept. A central question is explored: is it possible for ideology to be liberatory unless it is participatory? The chapter looks at the insights for such participation to be found in the 'new social movements' that developed in the last quarter of the twentieth century, including service user movements, and unpacks participation considering its history, philosophy, models, contexts and meanings.