Black Lives Matter, COVID-19, and Political Opportunities:

In the summer of 2020, while mired in the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States experienced an unprecedentedly massive wave of protests led by the Black Lives Matter movement. Given the novelty of this upswell and the lack of a clear precedent thereof, there does not yet exist much scholarly analysis into why and how this movement expanded as significantly as it did or what developmental routes it may take as in the future. My research seeks to remedy this gap by employing the political process theory of social movement activity to interpret how the COVID pandemic increased opportunities for insurgent activity, how Black Lives Matter was in a prime position to take advantage of those opportunities, and how the movement can and should approach its future development to retain the support and leverage it accumulated during the 2020 protests. Through informal qualitative analysis rooted in the political process model, I suggest that COVID led to greater public recognition of institutional maladies in the United States, which Black Lives Matter was able to channel toward protest activity thanks to the low-cost, high-reward membership system inherent in its non-hierarchical structure and tactful use of social media. I then briefly consider different developmental paths that Black Lives Matter may take and assert that carefully implemented attempts at formalization will allow the movement to retain its organizing potential regardless of any volatile external opportunities.

Comparative political process theory

What, if anything, do recent constitutional court decisions requiring a legislature to create a customized presidential impeachment procedure, invalidating a government’s prorogation of parliament, rejecting the disbanding of an independent anticorruption unit, and striking down legislation for inadequate deliberation have in common? They are all examples of courts protecting the political processes of representative democracy against threats or failures. Yet none of these various types of failure appear in the work that is synonymous with a political process theory of judicial review: John Hart Ely’s Democracy and Distrust. This article argues that when we look beyond the United States and at the comparative context generally, a political process theory has a great deal of relevance and application to constitutional law and courts around the world, both descriptively and normatively. Especially now when the structures and processes of representative democracy are under assault in so many places. However, for comparative purposes, Ely’s account takes too narrow a view of what types of political process failures exist and are of concern, and what types of judicial review or other protective mechanisms they may call for. It is also an interpretive theory of one system, but what is needed in the comparative context is a broader, normative theory of the role of courts and other actors in protecting democratic politics. Accordingly, suitably expanded and adapted, a comparative political process theory can make a valuable contribution to the field of comparative constitutional law. This article seeks to explore and further develop such a theory.

Das Mobilizações à Política de Educação das Relações Étnico-raciais

RESUMOO presente artigo examina episódios e iniciativas que possibilitaram o agendamento do combate ao racismo e outras demandas do Movimento Negro brasileiro no final do século XX, culminando na política de promoção da igualdade racial. O texto debruça-se em especial sobre a política de educação para as relações étnico-raciais. Uma inovação institucional em termos de política curricular. O aporte teórico alicerça-se na teoria do processo político, no modelo dos múltiplos fluxos e no debate sobre federalismo. A análise efetivou-se mediante o esquadrinhamento de fontes secundárias: a produção acadêmica disponível (artigos, teses e dissertações) e documentos públicos (legislação e planos de elaborados pelos agentes públicos e documentos produzidos pelo Movimento Negro). Os resultados evidenciam que a implementação da política de educação para as relações raciais enfrenta óbices de natureza institucional e política, como, por exemplo, a ausência de uma estrutura de incentivos que promova a adesão dos entes federativos, além de, sobretudo, deparar com o que pretende destruir: o próprio racismo nas mais distintas facetas.Agendamento. Relações Étnico-Raciais. Política Curricular. Inovação Institucional. ABSTRACTThis article examines episodes and initiatives that enabled the topic of fighting racism and other demands from the Brazilian Black Movement to be placed on the agenda in the late 20th century, culminating in policy to promote racial equality. The paper addresses education policy for ethnic-racial relations. This was an institutional innovation in terms of curricular policy. The theoretical contribution is based on political process theory, the multiple flow model and the debate on federalism. The analysis was conducted by investigating secondary sources: the academic production available (articles, theses and dissertations) and public documents (legislation and plans prepared by public officials and documents produced by the Black Movement). The results demonstrate that the introduction of education policy for racial relations faces obstacles of an institutional and political nature, such as the absence of a structure of incentives that promotes adherence by the federative units, and, above all, encountering what it intends to destroy: the distinctive aspects of racism.Agenda Setting. Ethnic/Racial Relations. Curricular Policy. Institutional Innovation. RESUMENEste artículo analiza episodios e iniciativas que permitieron poner en la agenda la lucha contra el racismo y otras demandas del Movimiento Negro Brasileño a fines del siglo XX, culminando con la política de promoción de la igualdad racial. El texto se centra en particular en la política de educación para las relaciones étnico-raciales. Una innovación institucional en términos de política curricular. El aporte teórico se basa en la teoría del proceso político, en el modelo de múltiples flujos y en el debate sobre el federalismo. El análisis se llevó a cabo mediante el escaneo de fuentes secundarias: la producción académica disponible (artículos, tesis y disertaciones) y documentos públicos (legislación y planes elaborados por agentes públicos y documentos elaborados por el Movimiento Negro). Los resultados muestran que la implementación de la política de educación para las relaciones raciales enfrenta obstáculos de carácter institucional y político como, por ejemplo, la ausencia de una estructura de incentivos que promueva la adhesión de entidades federativas, además de, sobre todo, encontrar con que pretende destruir: el racismo mismo en las más diversas facetas.Agendamiento. Relaciones Étnico-Raciales. Política Curricular. Innovación institucional. SOMMARIOQuesto articolo analizza episodi e iniziative che hanno permesso di mettere all'ordine del giorno la lotta al razzismo e altre rivendicazioni del Movimento nero brasiliano alla fine del XX secolo, culminando nella politica di promozione dell'uguaglianza razziale. Il testo si concentra in particolare sulla politica di educazione alle relazioni etnico-razziali. Un'innovazione istituzionale in termini di politica curricolare. Il contributo teorico si basa sulla teoria del processo politico, nel modello dei flussi multipli e nel dibattito sul federalismo. L'analisi è stata condotta scansionando fonti secondarie: produzione accademica disponibile (articoli, tesi e dissertazioni) e documenti pubblici (legislazione e piani preparati da agenti pubblici e documenti preparati dal Movimento Nero). I risultati mostrano che l'attuazione della politica educativa per le relazioni razziali incontra ostacoli di natura istituzionale e politica come, ad esempio, l'assenza di una struttura di incentivi che promuova l'adesione degli Stati, oltre, soprattutto, l'incontro che mira a distruggere: il razzismo stesso nelle più diverse sfaccettature.Pianificazione. Relazioni etnico-razziali. Politica curricolare. Innovazione istituzionale.

Quality of Governance and Tax Revenue Generation in West Africa: A Political Process Theory Perspective

This article examined governance quality indicators such as control of corruption, political stability, voice and accountability and GDP per capita growth on tax revenue generation. This study conducted a panel analysis on all the variables from 15 West African countries between 2009 -2018. The pull result indicated significant and positive relationship with control of corruption, political stability and tax revenue generation. Regulatory quality typified a negative and insignificant relationship; depicting the weak nature of regulatory structures towards revenue mobilization in the West African region. This study suggests digitalization of the tax system, formidable regional economic integration against illicit outflows and improvement of governance culture in order to drive tax compliance and revenue mobilization. Future research should consider the relationship between tax revenue generation and variables such as tax payers’ confidence and tax system digitalization. KEYWORDS: quality of governance; tax revenue generation; GDP per capita growth; illicit financial leakages, tax system digitalization, regional economic integration, West Africa, political process theory, tax compliance.

Activist Christians, the Human Rights Movement, and Democratization in Latin America

This chapter is a critical literature review of recent social science research describing and analyzing the participation of Christian churches in various phases of the human rights movement in Latin America. Spanning the period from 1964 to the present, such human rights activism took place in the contexts of authoritarian rule, civil war, democratic transitions, and the consolidation of democracy. The chapter focuses on the influence of Christian church leaders, laity, organizations, and resources on the origins, growth, and maturation of human rights-oriented social movement organizations (SMOs). Drawing on Douglas McAdam, Sidney Tarrow, and Charles Tilly’s work on political process theory, this literature emphasizes the invaluable role of religious organizations in providing space, resources, protection, and framing to nascent human rights movements in the region during the 1960s-70s. Even so, the literature also grapples with the diverse range of political stances taken by Christian church leaders and activists, both within and across national-level cases. With the maturation of the movement and the transition to democracy, political process theory remained relevant, but failed to capture some of the key challenges and opportunities experienced by Christian activists, as opposed to social activists in general. Thus, scholarship shifted focus to organized religion’s capacity to build social capital and sustain meaningful Christian social and human rights activism.

The conscience constituent reconsidered

Chapter 1 provides a critical account of the conscience constituent in social movement theory. It identifies the points at which conscience constituents are deployed in social movement theory: in resource mobilization theory, rational choice accounts of mobilization, political process theory, and framing theory. It considers the weaknesses of the conscience constituent theory both in terms of supply (why conscience constituents participate) and demand (why social movements make use of them). It introduces four puzzling empirical cases the existing theory struggles to explain: women’s movements and their male supporters, anticolonialism and its British friends, labor representation and its professional advocates, and Victorian socialists and middle-class fellowship. The chapter also provides a roadmap to the book as a whole and explains and justifies methodological and definitional choices.

Judge Posner, Judge Wilkinson, and Judicial Critique of Constitutional Theory

Judge Richard Posner's well-known view is that constitutional theory is useless. And Judge J Harvie Wilkinson III has lambasted constitutional theory for the way in which its "cosmic" aspirations threaten democratic self-governance. Many other judges hold similar views. And yet both Posner and Wilkinson-in the popular press, in law review articles, and in books-have advocated what appear to be their own theories of how to judge in constitutional cases. Judicial pragmatism for Posner and judicial restraint for Wilkinson seem to be substitutes for originalism, living constitutionalism, political process theory, and so on. But both Posner and Wilkinson also deny that they are offering a theory at all. This is puzzling. How do these judges simultaneously reject constitutional theory yet seemingly replace it with theories of their own? This Article answers that question-a question that must be answered in order to understand the present-day relationship between constitutional theory and constitutional adjudication. The perspectives of Judge Posner and Judge Wilkinson are particularly valuable because they have not only decided hundreds of constitutional cases but have also written extensively about constitutional theory. Drawing on a close reading of revealing slices of both their extrajudicial writing and their judicial opinions in constitutional cases, this Article makes three contributions. First, it brings to light agreements between Posner and Wilkinson that run far deeper than the heralded differences between them and that stem from their situated understanding of their judicial role. Second, it exposes the limited influence of judicial pragmatism and judicial restraint on these judges' own constitutional jurisprudence even in those cases where one might expect constitutional theory to exert maximal influence. Third, it explains how judicial pragmatism and judicial restraint are best understood not as constitutional theories but as descriptions of judicial dispositions-character traits that pertain to judicial excellence-that can and should be criticized on their own terms.

Labor Unrest and Incipient Collective Bargaining in China

ABSTRACTIn this paper, we argue that both labor unrest and collective bargaining are increasing in China. Using McAdam's political process theory, we argue that Chinese workers are striking more and offensively in support of their economic demands. We identify the state's interests in promoting collective bargaining, and through an analysis of union and employers’ organizations, attempt to predict the future trajectory of collective bargaining in China. Using new data about strikes, we confirm our argument that strikes in China are increasing. Based on very limited past and current research, we create a taxonomy of baseline collective bargaining in China against which future developments can be compared.