Colin Barker – författare

Despite the explosion of social movement research in Europe and the US in the last 20 years, the question of leadership has been relatively neglected. This probing examination of the theory and practice of social movement leadership critically re-examines a series of classic cases. The essays illuminate the complex dynamics and competing forms taken by social movement leadership as well as its impact on movement successes and failures.

Marxism and Social Movements is the first sustained engagement between social movement theory and Marxist approaches to collective action. The chapters collected here, by leading figures in both fields, discuss the potential for a Marxist theory of social movements, explore the developmental processes and political tensions within movements, set the question in a long historical perspective and analyse contemporary movements against neo-liberalism and austerity.

This ambitious volume examines revolutionary situations during a non-revolutionary historical conjuncture--the neoliberal era. The last three decades have seen an increase in the number of political upheavals that challenge existing power structures, many of them taking the form of urban revolts. This book compellingly explores a series of such upheavals--in Eastern Europe, South Africa, Indonesia, Argentina, Bolivia, Venezuela, sub-Saharan Africa (including Congo, Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso) and Egypt. Each chapter studies the ways in which protest movements developed into insurgent challenges to state power, and the strategies that regimes have deployed to contain and repress revolt.In addition to empirical chapters, the book engages in theorization of revolution, dealing with questions such as the patterning of revolution in contemporary history, the relationship between class struggle and social movements, and the prospects of socialist revolution in the twenty-first century.

This ambitious volume examines revolutionary situations during a non-revolutionary historical conjuncture--the neoliberal era. The last three decades have seen an increase in the number of political upheavals that challenge existing power structures, many of them taking the form of urban revolts. This book compellingly explores a series of such upheavals--in Eastern Europe, South Africa, Indonesia, Argentina, Bolivia, Venezuela, sub-Saharan Africa (including Congo, Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso) and Egypt. Each chapter studies the ways in which protest movements developed into insurgent challenges to state power, and the strategies that regimes have deployed to contain and repress revolt.In addition to empirical chapters, the book engages in theorization of revolution, dealing with questions such as the patterning of revolution in contemporary history, the relationship between class struggle and social movements, and the prospects of socialist revolution in the twenty-first century.

When Oliver rescues Pierre, a small puppy, he has no inkling that this small act  of kindness will trigger the start of a great cosmic drama. For far out in space, higher powers are about to assess human dominance on planet Earth. Oliver unexpectedly finds himself as the chosen representative of humanity at the upcoming cosmic enquiry that will judge humans against artificial Intelligence. To gather his evidence he sets off, with Pierre in tow, transiting first to the Shadow-side (Earth’s twin) to meet Lord Sebastian – an advocate for humanity – and Galactic controller Ovoid – who is most certainly not. Encounters with angry centaurs, a Were-cat, a trans-avian falcon and a shrub spirit are only some of the unusual characters he encounters, as he moves ever closer to the final countdown… The Royal Road to the Stars is the story of a man facing a task chosen for him – to undertake the greatest earthly journey ever made, with the future of humanity at stake.

Two Men in a Basket and Other Stories is another stylish and versatile selection from Colin Barker, with stories ranging from the hilarious to the deadly serious, but always well-crafted and thought provoking. Lovers of The Shell and other Stories will meet old friends here, as always fighting against the odds but somehow bumbling through. But there are others not so lucky in their dealings with deathly plants, stealing property from the spirit world or living for the first time right on the edge. Terror and tension run through many of the stories with a host of unexpected endings, but in the end it’s usually wry humour that wins the day! So, if you want a toe-tingling thrill, to gasp at the unexpected, roar at the absurd or quietly nod in agreement this is the short story anthology for you.

This book is a significant contribution to the expanding study of social movements. The essays consider some of the manifold ways in which people join together in popular movements to pursue visions of a different and more just society. They examine the impact of such movements, both on ordinary citizens swept along by demands for change, and on conventional institutions caught in the crossfire between radical protest and the pursuit of more mundane goals. They cast a new light on seemingly familiar themes: participation as a learning experience, the critical ingenuity of leadership but also its failures of judgment and internal divisions and the ever-changing nature of protest in the face of relentless social change. Above all, these essays succeed in capturing the essential vitality and creativity of ideas and language expressed by citizens as they struggle to reinvent their lives and times.

Five times in the last 40 years, the working class has posed a radical alternative to the status quo. In each of these cases, the actions of workers themselves were the driving force of struggles with revolutionary potential. Each episode offers an inspiring glimpse of the way in which workers rise to the challenge of fighting for a better world-and pose their own alternative to the system. Although none of these struggles ultimately achieved their goals, they were revolutionary rehearsals' that hold important lessons about the struggle for modern socialism.'