Social movements and global mobilisations 17 Sept

Even though the study of social movements has for long been neglected, from the second half of the 20 th century on, research on the field has increased considerably to the extent that nowadays it represents an important and wide area of sociological studies. Because of the heterogeneity and the multidimensional nature of social movements, different approaches have been adopted in order to answer a variety of questions concerning this form of collective behaviour and to analyse their structure, their development, their components and their symbolic processes.

The Sociological Review, 2010

This article addresses some of the issues concerning the trans-nationalisation of collective action by focusing on the White Overalls and the Disobedients and their participation in three transnational cycles of protest that took place at different geographical levels -local, macro-regional, and global -between the second half of the 1990s and the early 2000s. The first part briefly discusses some historical, transnational precursors to global collective action and will argue that the Global Justice Movement was a global and original actor with reference to three dimensions of contentious action: the organisational dimension, framing processes and campaigns. The second part focuses on the origins and identity of the White Overalls, while the third describes their analysis of globalization and looks at how the scale of action has shifted. The analysis of these three cycles of protest shows that the global shift has not superseded other scales of action, but rather has been interwoven with them as a consequence of the political cleavages offered by the international context. It is also argued the space for action is only partially global and the global mobility of social movement activists is stratified. Finally it is shown how opponents, institutions and movements have all dynamically contributed to the transformation of the external political environment.

2012

This course surveys a range of theories seeking to make sense of the dynamics of social movement mobilization in both the developed and developing world, focusing on dissidents (variously defined) pressing demands on sovereign states and international organizations through a variety of methods, both violent and non -­ violent, generally subsumed under the heading of “contentious politics.” After covering the general literature on the relationship between globalization and dissent, the course focuses on a series of transnational trends/movements related to the global fight for (and against) democracy

Since the 1970s, the work of the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) has emphasized the importance—both normatively and in practice—of popular participation in development. Attention has been paid to the mobilizing dynamics of particular actors, such as peasant farmers, workers and labour unions, as well as to movements involving the urban poor, indigenous peoples and women. As a research institute, UNRISD has undertaken critical analysis of how these political actors contribute to the transformation of the global public sphere by breaking away from traditional state-to-state dialogues. Recognizing that civil society activism has increased and grown in importance, UNRISD has sought to tackle issues that are crucial to improving UN–civil society dialogue and mutual understanding. Legitimacy is central in this respect: for a strong relationship, it is essential to know whose interests are represented by all parties.

2010

Since Charles Tilly’s path-breaking work on the emergence of the modern pro- test politics during the historical transformation from an old to a new repertoire of contention (Tilly 1984, 1986 and 1995), social movements have been conceptualised as being inherently national or sub-national phenomena. Now, things seem to have changed. Over the past few years, transnational contention has increased considerably and a new collective actor has emerged. This new collective actor – which is defined variously as the no-global movement, anti-globalisation movement, alter-globalisation movement, global justice movement (GJM), movement for a globalisation from below, among other labels – includes a wide range of groups, mobilises various social networks and addresses many different, albeit interrelated issues relating to the struggle against neoliberalism (Sommier 2003). The most salient issues bear on social and economic injustice, North-South inequalities, international trade rules and barri...

The globalization interests that seek to universalize all spheres of life have simultaneously produced negative side effects in the form of economic stagnation, ecological crisis, the erosion of pluralist democracy, militarization and the nuclear, chemical, and biological threats to survival. These effects engendered by globalization are being contested. Social movements are collective responses to rapid social transformation, and hence are crucial to our understanding of the social change accompanying the processes of globalization. Social movements are situated in the unfolding contradictions of a dramatically changing world order as attempts to secure control over local life, genuine democracy, social equality, and peaceful international relations against the imperatives of exploitation and domination. The purpose of this thesis is to develop a framework that navigates between three major social movement theoretical paradigms (resource mobilization, political opportunity structures, and framing) in order to map and trace the relationships between local contentious politics and agency and international events, trends and power constellations (i.e. between social movements and globalization). The model/framework presented in this thesis illuminates the relationships between local perceptions, interpretations, framing and networking; meso level frames-bridging , network integration, resource collection and mobilization; and macro level structures, processes, relationships, and events. In order to further illustrate this framework, two European, left, libertarian movements, the Autonomous Movement and the Peace Movement, are explored and analyzed. By making international influences and macrostructural processes an integral part of the interactive model important advantages are gained, simply because local variables can be linked or coupled with macro-societal analysis.

2007