Movements and American Political Thought

Leading scholars examine the role of movements in challenging the ideological contours of American politics.This edited collection challenges the prevailing assumption that movements and American political thought have little to say to one another. Scholars from a variety of disciplinary traditions with distinct substantive interests argue that movements are nuanced forms of political expression requiring the same careful readings given to traditional texts. Like political theory texts, movements often inhere multiple, possibly contradictory meanings, and sometimes those meanings escape the author's control, with movements gaining significance in contexts unimagined or unintended by their participants. By bringing movements to bear on American political thought this volume of interdisciplinary scholarship maps a fresh terrain of political possibility at an important juncture of American life. As democracy confronts emergent authoritarianism, the editors marshal America's democratizing movements as resources for revivifying democratic thought and praxis, both as a scholarly contribution and an exercise in civic consciousness. Not merely a vector of political pressure and reform, movements are a canvas upon which Americans have charted the contours of liberal democracy's expansive meaning. A tool for educators and activists, Movements and American Political Thought distills the counter-narratives, critiques, and practices generated by movements to contest the terms of American democracy.