People, Passions, and Power: Social Movements, Interest Organizations, and the P – serie

This ambitious volume brings together original essays on the U.S. women's movement with analyses of women's movements in other countries around the world. A comparative perspective and a common theme—feminism in social movement action—unite these voices in a way that will excite students and inspire further research. From the grassroots to the global, the significance of the U.S women's movement in the international arena cannot be denied. At the same time, the way in which international feminism has developed—in Asia, in Latin America, in Europe—has altered and expanded the landscape of the U.S. women's movement forever. These distinguished authors show us how.

Coalitions across Borders shows how social movements have cooperated and conflicted as they work to develop a transnational civil society in response to perceived threats of neoliberalism—free trade, privatization, structural adjustment, and unbridled corporate power. The authors explore the processes of transnational mobilization, discussing the motivations and methods of cross-border cooperation as well as the conflicts that have affected movement abilities to promote social change. The original case studies included in this volume represent a diverse cross section of transnational movement coalitions—from various regions and nations, representing different movement interests, and addressing a range of economic injustices. Coalitions across Borders reveals the many social conditions that enable and constrain the formation of transnational civil societies and the ways in which movement actors manage conflicts as they work toward common goals.

This landmark volume brings together some of the titans of social movement theory in a grand reassessment of its status. For some time, the field has been divided between a dominant structural approach and a cultural or constructivist tradition. The gaps and misunderstandings between the two sides—as well as the efforts to bridge them—closely parallel those in the discipline of sociology at large. This book aims to further the dialogue between these two distinct approaches to social movements and to show the broader implications for sociology as a whole as it struggles with issues including culture, emotion, and agency.

In this book, two titans of social movement scholarship bring together the best current research on the nexus between the local and the global in translating the global justice movement into action at the grass roots, and vice versa. Using recent cases of transnational contention_from the European Social Forum in Florence to the Argentinean human rights movement and British environmentalists, from movement networks in Bristol and Glasgow to the Zapatistas_the original chapters by distinguished scholars presented in this volume adapt current social movement theory to what appears to be a new cycle of protest developing around the globe.

Party movements can be described as political organizations that both participate in the electoral process and have social movement qualities. They appear frequently in both Canada and the United States. Many of these movements face huge organizational problems, and yet they display remarkable resilience, signaling both continuing political dissatisfactions as well as possibilities for changing political outcomes. This book demonstrates how organizational theory can be useful for understanding party movements, and also expands on the idea of continuity, contributing new ways of thinking about how organizations change and survive in the face of recurring dilemmas. This look inside party movements, at the organizational problems they face and the strategies employed to deal with them, represents a new way of accounting for their history that contrasts with perspectives focusing solely on external conditions.

Party movements can be described as political organizations that both participate in the electoral process and have social movement qualities. They appear frequently in both Canada and the United States. Many of these movements face huge organizational problems, and yet they display remarkable resilience, signaling both continuing political dissatisfactions as well as possibilities for changing political outcomes. This book demonstrates how organizational theory can be useful for understanding party movements, and also expands on the idea of continuity, contributing new ways of thinking about how organizations change and survive in the face of recurring dilemmas. This look inside party movements, at the organizational problems they face and the strategies employed to deal with them, represents a new way of accounting for their history that contrasts with perspectives focusing solely on external conditions.

Apathy and antipathy toward politics are epidemic. Citizen Democracy provides the antidote. In this revised and updated edition, Stephen E. Frantzich portrays citizens from every walk of life—rich and poor, old and young, black and white, male and female, left and right, famous and obscure—as they choose to become involved in politics at a level to which readers can relate.Some of the stories contain unexpected twists. Candy Lightner, the founder of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, now works as a liquor industry lobbyist and argues that MADD has gone too far. College freshman Gregory Watson reacted to receiving a “C” on a political science paper by quitting school and becoming the driving force behind passage of a constitutional amendment that had been the subject of his paper. Two young women independently wrote letters of application to the U.S. Naval Academy and in the process moved military education in the direction of gender neutrality.Citizen Democracy shows ordinary people engaged in extraordinary civic activity. Their causes run the gamut from civil rights to flag burning, from the Internet to the environment—but their common cause is the fact that they creatively entered the arena of national public policy making and made a difference.

This volume provides students of political parties with up-to-date information on both the state of American party organizations and controversies over how these organizations are studied. The collection focuses on new direction in party scholarship-including debates over the vitality and relevance of the two party system, the analytical usefulness of the traditional model of American parties, and the import of organizational studies.

Social movements in the United States are important political actors because of their scale and duration, their generation of new ideas and understandings of existing problems, their ability to mobilize those who were previously passive citizens, and the impetus they provide for restructuring and broadening the agenda of American politics. This volume combines chapters by a distinguished group of social movement scholars, from both sociology and political science, who use perspectives ranging from political process theory to rational choice and collective action approaches to evaluate the functioning of institutions of American government and the public policies that they produce. A diverse group of movements and interests are featured: women, public interest, native America, the environment, the Christian Right, abortion, gay rights, and homelessness among them.

Is the notorious 'Generation X' any different from other generations in terms of its voting behavior, economic circumstances, or general social and political outlook? This book of original essays by distinguished political scientists, economists, and sociologists (some Xers themselves) will be among the first to examine patterns of political and social behavior among this least understood, yet widely maligned, generational group.

In the wake of Ross Perot, Ralph Nader, and other 'third' party and independent candidates that ran in the 1996 election, this collection of original essays by leading political scientists and third party officials is must reading for individuals interested in American politics. Multiparty Politics in America examines the roles that third parties have played in U.S. elections past and present and their prospects for the future. It presents unique and detailed coverage of the Reform, Green, and Libertarian parties' goals and campaign strategies; discusses the kinds of reforms that would help them become more viable; and advances the debate over whether the U.S. should have a two-party or multiparty system.

Is there more social protest now than there was prior to the movement politics of the 1960s, and if so, does it result in a distinctly less civil society throughout the world? If everybody protests, what does protest mean in advanced industrial societies? This volume brings together scholars from Europe and the U.S., and from both political science and sociology, to consider the ways in which the social movement has changed as a political form and the ways in which it continues to change the societies in which it is prevalent.

This book updates and adds to the classic Social Movements of the Sixties and Seventies, showing how social movement theory has grown and changed—from an earlier emphasis on collective behavior, to the resource mobilization approach, and currently to analyses that emphasize culture, ideology, and collective identity. Top social scientists combine insiders' insights with critical analyses to examine a wide variety of social movements active in the most recent U.S. cycle of protest. Waves of Protest is a must-read for students of social movements, social change, political sociology, and American studies.