The Making of a Global Movement: Cycles of Protest and Scales of Action

Abstract

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 The analysis of these three cycles of protest shows that the global shift has not superseded other scales of action, but rather has been interwoven with them as a consequence of the political cleavages offered by the international context.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.