Stephen Milder – författare

Greening Democracy explains how nuclear energy became a seminal political issue and motivated new democratic engagement in West Germany during the 1970s. Using interviews, as well as the archives of environmental organizations and the Green party, the book traces the development of anti-nuclear protest from the grassroots to parliaments. It argues that worries about specific nuclear reactors became the basis for a widespread anti-nuclear movement only after government officials' unrelenting support for nuclear energy caused reactor opponents to become concerned about the state of their democracy. Surprisingly, many citizens thought transnationally, looking abroad for protest strategies, cooperating with activists in other countries, and conceiving of 'Europe' as a potential means of circumventing recalcitrant officials. At this nexus between local action and global thinking, anti-nuclear protest became the basis for citizens' increasing engagement in self-governance, expanding their conception of democracy well beyond electoral politics and helping to make quotidian personal concerns political.

The year 1968 has widely been viewed as the only major watershed moment during the latter half of the twentieth century. Rethinking Social Movements after '68 takes on this conventional approach, exploring the spaces, practices, organization, ideas and agendas of numerous activists and movements across the 1970s and 1980s. From the Maoist Communist League to the women's movement, youth center movement, and gay liberation movement, established and emerging scholars across Europe and North America shed new light on the development of modern European popular politics and social change.

The year 1968 has widely been viewed as the only major watershed moment during the latter half of the twentieth century. Rethinking Social Movements after ’68 takes on this conventional approach, exploring the spaces, practices, organization, ideas and agendas of numerous activists and movements across the 1970s and 1980s. From the Maoist Communist League to the women’s movement, youth center movement, and gay liberation movement, established and emerging scholars across Europe and North America shed new light on the development of modern European popular politics and social change.

Andrei S. Markovits, geboren als Kind rumänischer Schoa-Überlebender, hat die politischen und akademischen Debatten in Deutschland über Jahrzehnte hinweg mitgeprägt. In den 80ern sezierte der amerikanische Politologe die deutschen Gewerkschaften und deren strukturellen Sexismus, in den 90ern prognostizierte er "Grün schlägt Rot" und nach dem 11. September 2001 gehörte er zu den wichtigsten Stimmen, die auf die Verbindung von Antisemitismus und Antiamerikanismus hinwiesen. Auch in Feldern wie Sport und Tierschutz zeigt sich die besondere Herangehensweise von Markovits, den transatlantischen Vergleich als sozialwissenschaftliche Kontrastfolie zu nutzen.