Popular Mobilization Research Articles

Sobre o conceito de ator coletivo: a construção discursiva do manifestante de rua em postagens do Facebook da Mídia Ninja

Em março de 2015, aconteceram os protestos contrários e em prol das políticas da recém reeleita presidente Dilma Rousseff. A mobilização popular foi intensa e incentivou o Congresso Nacional a iniciar o processo de impeachment. A partir das postagens na plataforma Facebook publicadas pelo grupo Mídia Narrativas Independentes, Jornalismo e Ação (Mídia Ninja), durante o referido período, este estudo desenvolve o conceito de ator coletivo. A noção de actante coletivo foi, primeiramente, proposta por Greimas e Landowski (1981), em uma análise sobre o discurso jurídico. Desde então, é um conceito que não foi explorado com maior profundidade pelos teóricos do texto e do discurso. Por meio da construção discursiva da Mídia Ninja, desenvolvemos a noção de ator coletivo a partir do ator manifestante de rua. Como arcabouço teórico, retomamos as premissas teóricas de Greimas e Courtés (2008) e os desdobramentos tensivos de Fontanille e Zilberberg (2001) e Zilberberg (2011). A metodologia aplicada é uma revisão bibliográfica apoiada pela análise semiótica de duas postagens do Facebook selecionadas. Os resultados apontam que existem dois perfis para o ator coletivo manifestante de rua: o generalizado e o personalizado.

Elite coordination and popular protest: the joint effect on democratic change

ABSTRACTAuthoritarian elections offer a window of contestation where a democratic opposition may increase the pressure on authoritarian regimes to implement democratic change. Pressure may come either from popular protest (vertical threats), or from a coordinated counter-elite (lateral threats). Previous research on electoral authoritarianism has emphasized the importance of both lateral and vertical threats for democratization, but have not theorized how these two threats interact to promote higher levels of democracy. We argue that the effect of vertical threats is contingent on the existence of lateral threats. Popular mobilization is more likely to promote democratic change if a unified opposition translates popular grievances to democratic demands. Conversely, a mobilized population increases the probability that a unified opposition will enhance democratic change by increasing the reputational and organizational costs of repression and electoral manipulation. Our theoretical claims are corroborated by statistical analysis of 169 elections, held in 74 electoral autocracies around the globe 1991–2014.

Geografia do policiamento aéreo nas metrópoles brasileiras

O artigo discorre sobre o processo de militarização do policiamento aéreo em curso no Brasil a partir de explorações em cinco metrópoles (Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Vitória, Brasília e Porto Alegre), que oferecem aporte analítico para afirmar que vivenciamos a produção de geografias aéreas militarizadas como ferramenta de patrulhamento aéreo e de combate urbano, no qual o helicóptero é empregado como uma arma de guerra. A pesquisa assim demonstra que no Brasil, tal como ocorre em outros lugares, a segurança pública faz uso da aviação policial para que, do espaço aéreo, realize operações militares, incutindo significados e percepções que metaforizam bairros populares, ruas e praças como campos de batalha, locais onde seus moradores e mobilizações populares são ameaçados por helicópteros policiais.
 
 Abstract
 
 GEOGRAPHY OF AIR POLICING IN THE BRAZILIAN METROPOLIS
 
 The article discusses the process of militarization of air policing in Brazil from explorations in five metropolises (Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Vitória, Brasília and Porto Alegre), which offer an analytical contribution to affirm that we experience the production of geographies as a tool for air patrol and urban combat, in which the helicopter is used as a weapon of war. The research thus demonstrates that in Brazil, as in other places, public security makes use of police aviation to carry out military operations in the air space, inculcating meanings and perceptions that metaphor popular neighborhoods, streets and squares such as battlefields, places where its residents and popular mobilizations are threatened by police helicopters.

Revolutionary Origins of Political Regimes and Trajectories of Popular Mobilization in the Late Communist Period

AbstractPopular protest, which repeatedly occurred in Communist regimes, turned into massive mobilizational waves in the late Communist period. Why did some protests result in state cooptation and particularist nationalism (Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union), and others in state-society polarization (Poland) and protest containment (China), when these states shared important historical, political, and institutional legacies? Political regimes with origins in indigenous popularly-based revolutionary movements are more resilient to popular protests and other major crises than other authoritarian regimes. Protracted ideological armed struggle largely overlaps with broader patriotic causes, such as liberation wars or struggles against foreign intervention. The revolutionary regimes thus acquire patriotic credentials, while boundaries between partisan and patriotic identities become blurred, which strengthens their elite unity and popular base. Popular protests thus facilitate a complex political game of old and new actors that may result in regime survival or transformation. In other regimes, popular unrest tends to produce state-society polarization and, ultimately, regime delegitimation and breakdown. Popular contention in complex multinational institutional settings, if there is no major external threat, highlights old and triggers new conflicts along these structural and institutional divides and, where dual political identities prevail, facilitates identity shifts in particularist direction.

Conflicting Objectives in Democracy Promotion: Avoiding Blueprint Traps and Incomplete Democratic Transitions

Western donors attempting to promote democracy across the globe face a dilemma. Democracy is a highly valued policy goal, but they are fearful that the path to democ¬racy will undermine another highly valued goal – political stability – and potentially cause widespread violence in the recipient countries or beyond. We ask whether these fears have empirical support and how donors can balance the potentially conflicting objectives of democratisation and stability when intervening in governance matters. Recent research at the German Development Institute shows that fears about the destabilising effects of democratisation do indeed have some empirical support (Leininger et al 2012; Ziaja 2013). But these fears deflect attention from the bigger problem of “getting stuck in the middle”. Hybrid regimes that exhibit authoritarian traits under a facade of formal democratic institutions constitute, in the long run, a larger security risk than attempts to make these countries more democratic. Hybrid regimes also hamper economic development, thus constituting an additional, indirect, risk of violent conflict. The promotion of democracy is hence a laudable effort, but it may itself carry risks. A recent DIE study of 47 African countries suggests that support for democracy increases popular mobilisation in the short run, leading to increased demonstrations and riots. However, the same study produced no evidence that democracy support is likely to spark civil wars. Increased mobilisation is thus rather a sign of aid effectiveness than a reason to worry. Yet, to be effective in the long run and to help steer popular demands into peaceful channels, democracy support must assist domestic actors in building institutions that fit the needs of their society. In the past, the potentially de¬stabilising consequences of popular participation have seduced would-be engineers of social change into re¬stricting competition in young democracies. This is a bad idea, as our recent research shows: narrow, elite pacts have, on average, led to worse political outcomes than open competition. The best contribution that donors can make from the out¬side is to enable marginalised groups to participate in crea¬ting the institutional setup. This is best achieved when many donors promote democracy simultaneously. Only then can they avoid the “blueprint trap”, which snaps shut when donors try to impose – advertently or inadvertently – an institutional setup on the partner country that does not fit its society’s needs. Diversity on the donor side increases the chances of finding a context-adequate institutional design. These findings suggest that an overly cautious sequencing approach to democracy promotion – stability first, only then democracy – has little empirical support. Most countries in the world embarked on a (formally) democratic path more than two decades ago. A gradualist approach that builds institutions while at the same time encouraging mobilisation is thus the more viable approach. Recommendations in brief: Promote democracy now Keep democracy aid diverse Encourage endogenous, inclusive polity design Enforce conditionality on conflict resolution mechanisms in institutional design Balance trade-offs of democratic transitions.

Revisiting Bolivian Studies: Reflections on Theory, Scholarship, and Activism since 1980

As both a focus and locus of vibrant scholarly work, the field of Bolivian studies burst onto the international scene, carving a distinctive niche for itself within the larger fields of Andean and Latin American studies over the past twenty-five years. Bolivia went from being the hemisphere’s “least studied” country, according to a 1984LASA Forumsurvey, to becoming a beacon of intercultural dialogue, vanguard scholarship, and postcolonial debate. This essay traces Bolivian studies’ coming of age. Plotting the field’s developments and dialogues across history, anthropology, and ethnohistory, it argues that a dual process of academic decentering and epistemic reinvention unfolded in Bolivia at the height of its indigenous and popular mobilizations during the 1990s and early 2000s. The article closes by identifying five thematic clusters of recent research and briefly reflects on the place of Bolivian scholarship in the wider purview of Andean studies.

The Republican Primaries in 140 Characters: How the 2012 Candidates Used Twitter to Mobilize Their Supporters, Interact With them and Frame the Campaign

This study used content analysis to examine how the 2012 Republican candidates used Twitter to mobilize their supporters, interact with them, frame campaign issues and frame their opponents. The results indicated that Santorum has used Twitter the most. The most popular mobilization tactics were announcing appearances and voter recruitment. However, the candidates minimally used Twitter to frame campaign issues. Overall, the candidates’ use of Twitter was limited. Pertinent implications for the 2012 presidential elections are discussed.

Articulation of Movement Demands and the Politics of Solidarity against Extractive Capital in Bangladesh

Abstract How do disparate grievances join to form an agenda for collective action? This article analyses the articulation of movement demands and solidarity building during the formative phase of a popular mobilisation against a multinational mining company in Bangladesh. Drawing on a conceptual framework derived from Laclauian discourse theory, I explain how local community resistance inspired various social groups to support an anti-corporate social movement, ultimately defeating the mining company. I explain how the construction of an empty signifier had the capacity to connect disparate groups to oppose a common enemy. This analysis is based on a set of interviews with activists and a close reading of organisational documents. The examination of how movement demands are articulated emphasises the role of movement intellectuals and enriches the theorising of social movements in the Global South.

KURDISTAN’S REFERENDUM: THE WITHDRAWAL OF THE KURDISH FORCES IN KIRKUK

Less than a month after the Kurdistan independence referendum, the Iraqi Army and units of the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) attacked the disputed province of Kirkuk on October, 16, 2017. Unlike most national defence forces, the Kurdish Peshmerga is divided along partisan lines between the two largest parties in Iraqi Kurdistan. This particular area was largely under the control of units affiliated with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), which decided to make a strategic withdrawal in the face of superior numbers and firepower. The city was then retaken in short order by forces loyal to Baghdad, as were all other disputed territories previously under Kurdish control. Subsequently, the allegation that the PUK had retreated too easily has been described by the rival Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and others as a betrayal of the Kurdish people by the PUK. This has created two competing post-event perspectives: first, that the Peshmerga forces should have defended Kirkuk to the last man and should not have left their front line trenches; second that the withdrawal of the Peshmerga was a deliberate and rational military reaction to overwhelming opposition. This article critically assesses both perspectives and finds that partisan divisions in the Peshmerga critically undermined the ability of Kurdish forces to defend the disputed areas that they controlled. Instead of serving as motivation of create a unified fighting force, the loss of Kirkuk has only served to deepen those divisions.

Propositions for the emancipatory potential of urban spectacle

During the last few decades, the role of the spectacle within urban settings has produced groundbreaking research, mainly in Euro-American and Southeast Asian settings. However, its full potential to account for creative forms of encounter and political engagement has not by and large been part of the rich scholarship on cities, particularly with regard to regions lacking full democratic rights. Toward this end, this article investigates the emancipatory potential of urban spectacle as an anchor for new forms of dissent by groups without access to conventional political channels. Specifically, it explores how, in the early 2000s, pro-Kurdish parties in Turkey, who were either banned by the state or denied access to parliament by targeted legal restrictions, used urban spectacle to develop a mass oppositional movement. In the southern city of Diyarbakır, these groups organized a number of themed mass demonstrations and urban festivals, such as the movement of civil disobedience and Newroz festivals, to enhance their public visibility, create new opportunities for popular mobilization, and support practices of active citizenship. The article concludes that an awareness of the emancipatory potential of urban spectacle can contribute to understanding the multiple dimensions of public space and its relationship to democratic action.

Vigilante justice and informal policing in post-Euromaidan Ukraine

ABSTRACTDuring and after the Euromaidan, the Ukrainian society experienced an emergence of non-state groups that combined elements of civic activism and paramilitarism. They operated independently from the state and often used extra-legal violence to restore law and order, deliver justice, and protect Ukraine from external and internal threats. Their conduct closely resembles vigilantism. This article draws on the body of criminological and sociological research on vigilantism in order to understand the diverse landscape of vigilante groups in post-Euromaidan Ukraine. It explores the complex relationship between the most representative vigilante groups, the Ukrainian government, and the political and business elites; analyzes the legal boundaries of vigilantism in Ukraine; and discusses the outcomes of vigilante justice for democratic consolidation, rule of law, and human rights. This article offers a new paradigm for theorizing popular mobilization in Ukraine and sheds light on important dimensions of the formation of an informal system of policing and justice.

Post-ISIS Iraq and the Shia Armed Groups

The political environment of Iraq in the period from 2011-2014 experienced a great degree of turbulence. Many Sunni tribes in the Anbar, Ramadi and Salahadin regions organized a daily protest against the central government, accusing it of being sectarian. Gradually, these protests become more popular, and the Baghdad government became fearful that it would spread into the other regions of Iraq. In order to control the protests, the government used force, and many were killed. Simultaneously, in Syria, and especially during 2013-2014, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) controlled more land and more people, and to take advantage of the Iraqi people's dissatisfaction with their government, ISIS crossed the border between Iraq and Syria in June 2014. Mosul as the second most heavily populated city was seized by ISIS and the Iraqi army could not fight back, which meant that the Iraqi army retreated from most of the Sunni areas. Even Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, and the city where the central government operates, was threatened. While the Iraqi army was unable to fight against ISIS, the Shia religious supreme leader Al-Sistani called for self-defence and to stand against ISIS. Sistani’s call became a cornerstone for the creation of the so-called Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) with the aim of the fighting against ISIS. In this article, we assess the PMF from different perspectives, for example, using the Weberian theory that the state is the only entity that has a monopoly on violence, considering Ariel Ahram's model of state-sponsored and government-sponsored militias, and finally the devolution of violence to these armed groups.

Fraud, grievances, and post-election protests in competitive authoritarian regimes

Why does election fraud trigger protest in the aftermath of some competitive authoritarian elections but not others? It is often argued that post-election protests occur when information about fraud confirms and reinforces mass grievances against the regime. However, grievances are not universal in autocracies. By focusing on whether government spending primarily benefits the ruling coalition or the masses—thereby affecting economic inequality and mass grievances—the theoretical argument in this article demonstrates how fraud both can lead to post-election protests and work in the autocratic government's favor. I find evidence for the theoretical argument in an analysis of 628 competitive elections in 98 authoritarian regimes (1950–2010). More broadly, the article advances our understanding of competitive elections in autocracies by focusing on how autocratic governments pursue multiple election strategies to promote regime stability and how combinations of strategies affect popular mobilization.

The Defensive Paradigm of the Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq and the Degeneration of Divergent Politics

The Defensive Paradigm of the Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq and the Degeneration of Divergent Politics

أثر الإرهاب على الأمن الوطني العراقي

The Iraqi society is currently facing a series of challenges and rapid developments in all areas of life. This is what most Arab countries face just like other world countries. The phenomena of terrorism, extremism and intellectual deviation are among these challenges based on giving up the principles of tolerance and moderation in the Islamic community which are the most serious phenomena facing the international community. Since terrorism affects Iraqi national security, it is necessary to devote efforts to research and study in order to develop appropriate solutions to address such problem. Thus, the research is intended to highlight the phenomenon of terrorism and its effects on the Iraqi national security indicating the most important challenges facing Iraqi national security. It is based on how to employ the available resources of the state along with the regional and international efforts to eliminate terrorism and build a unified State capable of achieving security and stability in the country. The study dealt with the study of terrorism in terms of not only its meaning, but also its impact on the Arab region in general, and on Iraqi society, in particular where it is the world's most affected country, which caused instability in the post-US occupation of Iraq (2003). As it constituted a major turning point in the history of modern Iraq, due to the political, economic, social and cultural changes that led to the events of 2014. In addition to the battles between the brave Iraqi army and the terrorist organizations of ISIS in Mosul and Anbar, the largest cities of Iraq. The efforts of the heroic Iraqi army and the support of the popular mobilization, clans as well as the regional and international efforts have succeeded in defeating these terrorist organizations, achieving victories and liberating the lands from the grip of ISIS in (2017). Iraq also managed to protect its land and its people from division or fragmentation plans that targeted its components by maintaining national unity and achieving security and stability. The study also examined the most important post-urgent challenges facing the Iraqi national security in the present situation whether internally or externally. It is also addressing the ways of confronting them with the available resources of the state and in cooperation with the regional and international efforts in this regard in order to build a unified state capable of achieving security for its people.

Inequality in Twentieth-Century Latin America: Path Dependence, Countermovements, and Reactive Sequences

Most recent explanations of social welfare and development outcomes have focused on the role and impact of formal institutional arrangements, particularly the state. The institutional legacies of colonial rule and the role of democratic institutions have been common explanatory variables. This article focuses on the historical origins, persistence, and increases in inequality in Mexico and Chile during the twentieth century. It argues that despite important historical economic and political institutional differences, similar processes account for the unequal distributional outcomes that characterize the two cases. Critical conjunctures involved bitter struggle between social groups. While popularly based countermovements (along the lines predicted by Karl Polyani) arose periodically and struggled to improve social conditions, these movements were unable to alter the underlying sources of inequality. By mid-twentieth century, popular pressure had been able to exact only an unequal form of embeddedness (or social protection from the market) that contributed to inequality. Further, waves of popular mobilization linked to critical conjunctures produced reactive historical sequences involving fierce resistance from propertied elites and their middle-class allies. This resistance inevitably gave rise to new conjunctures ushering in new institutional arrangements that entrenched or increased inequality. The absence of a distributive settlement between propertied classes and popular groups was at the heart of the mobilization and countermobilization cycles in both cases; indeed, it was the depth of this disagreement, particularly the disagreement over private property, that fueled reactive sequences and their unequalizing outcomes.

The Political Prioritisation of Welfare in India: Comparing the Public Distribution System in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand

The idea of state responsibility for ensuring food security has gained ground, with strong popular mobilisations for the Right to Food around the world; but important variations prevail, both in the articulation of demands around food security interventions and in political responses to these. This paper takes a close look at India’s Public Distribution System, a programme with a long history and clear national-level, legislative backing, but considerable differences in prioritisation at the subnational level. Through an empirically rich and innovative comparison of Chhattisgarh with Jharkhand – both created at the same time, in 2000 – it asks why the opportunities afforded by statehood allowed Chhattisgarh to politically prioritise the PDS, but not Jharkhand. The paper finds that the explanation lies in the interrelated dimensions of political competition, the nature of pressures exerted by electorally significant societal groups, and political enablement of bureaucratic capacity. Finally, the analytical framework at the heart of the paper contributes to the emerging literature on the political conditions that allow the deployment of state capacity for the promotion of welfare.

Participação de residentes em saúde da família na gestão e controle social: Um relato de experiência sobre as pré-conferências Municipais de Saúde em Florianópolis.

In Florianopolis, in 2015, a mobilization commission was organized to prepare proposals and generate guidelines to encourage and support the popular mobilization of the various movements, Entities and associations for the 9th Municipal Health Conference with the theme: Public health and quality to take good care of people. A right of the Brazilian people. This report presents the experience of multiprofessional residents in family health as members of the mobilization, organizing, thematic and reporting committee of the 9th Municipal Conference of Health of Florianopolis, in the construction and realization of health pre-conferences. To compose the organizing committee residents were invited to integrate according to area of interest and vacancies made available. In addition, they participated in workshops to prepare the methodology for each pre-conference. In the process of construction of the pre-conferences it was verified that the social mobilization occurred after the initiative of actors who are part of the municipal health council and who understand as primordial the wide participation of the population in the discussions of the Public Policies. It should be emphasized that this participation contributes to the formation of human resources, since it presents another alternative of integration between health education, sectoral management and social control in SUS. It is understood that the incentive to the interaction between teaching, management, attention and social control in the process of training of the residents in family health having as soon as the first year of residence contact with the subject in the form of field practice contribute to the commitment in the spaces Of social control.

NGO laws after the colour revolutions and the Arab spring: Nondemocratic regime strategies in Eastern Europe and the Middle East

ABSTRACT How significant were popular mobilizations like the colour revolutions and the Arab Spring in raising legal regulatory barriers for non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Eastern Europe and the Middle East? How do different types of nondemocratic regimes approach NGO laws and state-society relations? This paper investigates and provides a comparative analysis of the NGO regulatory environment of nondemocratic regimes in Eastern Europe and the Middle East from 1995 to 2013, based on an original dataset measuring the severity of laws for the registration and operation of civic groups. We examine whether the uprisings instigated the passage of legal initiatives designed to curb NGO activism in each region, and assess whether patterns emerge based on differences in nondemocratic regime types. We determined that while NGO regulations have largely increased in Eastern Europe, they have actually declined in the Middle East on average. Moreover, greater NGO regulations exist in authoritarian and closed regimes that approach civil society by erecting clear legal blockades to civic activism. In contrast, hybrid regimes employ more-intricate legal strategies in order to raise the costs of entering and working in the NGO sector without necessarily overtly stifling civic activism.

Global Reconfigurations, Constitutional Obligations, and Everyday Life

Global Reconfigurations, Constitutional Obligations, and Everyday Life is now available as an e-book, to download without charge. This 2018 volume is the seventh in the series of readings for Yale’s Global Constitutionalism Seminar, a part of the Gruber Program for Global Justice and Women’s Rights. This year’s materials are co-edited by Judith Resnik and Clare Ryan. Chapter I, Constituting the Family, considers how constitutional regulation of families has come to the fore in light of demographic shifts, popular mobilizations, gender roles, and reproductive technologies. This Chapter’s questions center on when and why constitutions oblige state recognition and protection of adult relationships (through marriages and civil unions) and of parental status and authority. Chapter II, Governing Sports, engages with how to conceptualize sports organizations, which are protective of their autonomy, but nevertheless influenced by constitutional norms of free expression and association, equality, non-discrimination, and due process. National and international laws increasingly permeate the governance of sports, as the tribunals within sports organizations interact with and adopt legal rules to respond to the problems of corruption, drug use, monopolistic practices, and governance failures. Chapter III, Refugees in a Time of “Unprecedented” Mobility, addresses the “unprecedented” numbers of persons seeking safe havens across borders—25.4 million people globally as of June 2018, according to the UN Refugee Agency. This Chapter takes up debates about who gains the status of “refugee” as contrasted with “migrant,” what international obligations flow, and why many countries are seeking to deter, block, or detain entrants seeking a safer haven. Chapter IV, Health, Medicines, and Constitutional Obligations, considers the role of courts in enforcing rights to medicine, and whether this arena of economic and social rights entails distinct or familiar questions of judicial enforcement. In recent years, courts in several countries have concluded that state failures to provide medicines violate constitutional rights to health and, moreover, that courts can and should order group-based or individual remedies. This Chapter addresses who decides—courts, legislatures, health administrators—what medicines are subsidized and accessible, as well as the distributional impacts of such rulings.