Role Of Social Movements Research Articles

Constitutionalism Outside the Courts

This essay is a chapter to be included in the forthcoming Oxford Handbook on the U.S. Constitution. Using the actions of Arkansas Governor Orville Faubus during the Little Rock crisis of 1957 and the U.S. Supreme Court’s subsequent decision in Cooper v. Aaron as a lens, it explores constitutional interpretation and enforcement by extrajudicial institutions. I explore the critique of Cooper’s notion of judicial supremacy by departmentalists like Walter Murphy, empirical scholars skeptical of judicial efficacy like Gerald Rosenberg, and popular constitutionalists like Larry Kramer and Mark Tushnet. I also consider four distinct institutional forms of extrajudicial constitutional interpretation and enforcement: protection of constitutional values through political processes and checks and balances; the role of social movements in shaping constitutional meaning; resolution of particular constitutional controversies in the political branches through processes of “constitutional construction”; and the role of “administrative constitutionalism.” The critique of judicial supremacy and the analysis of extrajudicial interpretation and enforcement have had a salutary impact in broadening the horizons of constitutional law. To the extent that theories of constitutionalism outside the courts are used to go further and attack judicial review, however, I find them less persuasive. One need not believe in judicial supremacy to value the courts’ ultimate settlement function in litigated constitutional controversies. If the Constitution is to continue to act as an external constraint on political action, then constitutionalism outside the courts can never be wholly autonomous of constitutionalism inside.

Capital, Social Reproduction, and the Rise of Inequality

Abstract Thomas Piketty’s book has the great merit of implementing a global analysis of inequality that compares countries and periods. However, he adopts a definition of social class that overlooks the importance of cultural capital. Furthermore, the role of social movements is relatively marginalized in his account, which also focuses on fiscal tools to the detriment of other forms of regulation. Nonetheless, this innovative and important book opens up new avenues of research in the field of political sociology.

Academic Accomplishments within the Free Trade Debate

Academic Accomplishments within Free Trade Debate* (von BULOW, Marisa. A batalha do livre comercio: a construcao de redes transnacionais da sociedade civil nas Americas. Sao Paulo: Editora UNESP, 2014)For contemporary reader, especially a young Brazilian academic, it may not be clear that debate on free trade has assumed different nuances since 1990. If at that time issue was strictly related with a neoliberal agenda and, therefore, focused solely on market efficiency while being restricted to a few group of economists and market players, current debate expands well beyond this sphere. Many other agents have joined this debate and by questioning neoliberal economic principles they have complexified and relativized theme of economic efficiency. The reading of Marisa von Billow's book helps to trace these changes with great clarity and methodological precision in regards to involvement of social movements in this agenda within Americas.In her book author analyzes creation of transnational among civil society agents so as to coordinate activities on topics pertaining to international trade. The title the battle is represented within analysis, on one hand, by formation of contestation discourse (Part II - the politicization of trade), and secondly, by forms by which social movements have been organized (Part III - the dynamics of networks - and Part IV - organizational pathways to trans-nationality ). Contestation is therefore under spotlight in this book.When describing battle, Marisa von Billow's research brings conceptual and analytical accomplishments to academic debate on international trade, and its social and civic dimension. The number of skeptics still to this date on role of social movements in this field is not trivial. There is distrust regarding ability to understand technical dimension of international trade regulation, as well as ability of these agents to interfere at different levels of decision-making. The book elucidates formation of transnational social movement and its discourse, identifying actors (name, location and agenda) as well as bases and formation of an articulated contestation discourse (themes and proposals).Networks have been a central issue in social sciences in recent decades: how they are formed, how do they operate, financing forms, and results from this coordination. The book corresponds to von Billow's doctoral thesis at Johns Hopkins University, in United States, being advised by Margareth Keck. Keck and Kathryn Sikkink co-authored one of most influential articles under theme of social movements and their transnational activities (Keck and Sikkink, 1998). Von Billow's text is an application and specification of this larger project from Keck, in tropics. The author analyzes formation of transnational in Americas and focuses on civil society organizations and movements based in Brazil, Chile, United States, and Mexico.The focus in Americas contributes to mapping of a process - participation from civil society -, which still looms in institutional terms, especially in South America. In order to understand key actors and their coordination, it helps to outline potentials and limits of social participation within this particular context of Americas, sub-region of South America and also, more specifically, of Brazil and its foreign policy.Below I point out some key contributions that I identified in Marisa's work for debates concerning international trade, social participation, and institutionalization of participatory mechanisms.Trade without exclusion. The author justifies her thematic selection based on controversy and articulation it has acquired since 1990s (page 25). A first step debunked in book, however, is that such movements are not opposed to capitalism or against trade per se, but against (neoliberal) trade discourse that has prevailed since 1990s (page 70). …

Protest and Participation in Durban: A Focus on Cato Manor, Merebank and Wentworth

This paper considers how Durban citizens understand protest and what other methods of participation they employ in their pursuit of service delivery, democratic citizenship and social change. It is based on a sample of 20 households drawn from Cato Manor, a ‘hotspot’ for ‘service delivery’ protest as well as Merebank and Wentworth situated in the South Durban basin well known for its civil society/community opposition to local petrochemical refineries. The paper employs theories of ‘invited’ and ‘invented’ spaces of participation and ‘participation as citizenship’ to understand protest and participation among Durban's low-income, urban citizens. It argues that protest and formal participation methods are used in parallel, but with differing levels of intensity across communities depending on how people view agency and democratic citizenship. The paper also considers the role of social movements and non-governmental organisations, arguing that their initiatives to effect ‘transformative’ participation have their limits.

A refugee in my own country: Evictions or property rights in the urban informal economy?

Normative approaches to urban governance and planning and idealised visions of city space too often result in relocation or forced eviction of street traders and other informal economy workers from public space as a policy of choice. Often a response to a short-term political imperative, clearances take place with little understanding of the interconnected nature of the urban informal economy or widespread poverty impacts that result. As a result, street traders feel ostracised and often describe themselves as refugees. Drawing on a property rights perspective, and the ‘legal empowerment’ paradigm, this paper compares the major clearances of street traders that took place in Dar es Salaam in 2006–2007 and Dakar in 2007, with very different outcomes for traders. It explores the political initiatives behind the clearances, the dual property rights regimes in both countries, and the different roles of social movements, resulting in emerging political power in one city and passive marginalisation in another. Finally it argues that the conceptualisation of public space as a hybrid ‘public good’ would allow for a more appropriate property rights regime for the urban informal economy.

Comparing Print Coverage and Tweets in Elections

Social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr, have become more ubiquitous. They have had an increasing role in social movements, elections, and everyday life around the world. Social science is well positioned to explore the power and influence of social media economically, politically, and socially. This article is particularly interested in evaluating whether the sentiment of traditional print media coverage during elections has any relationship to the frequency of election-related tweets. Though television is perhaps more influential in terms of political news, social media is often used to retweet or comment on articles from print journalism. Also, though we increasingly consume news from social media, we often do not think of how opinions are converging or diverging during major events. This article specifically explores the case of the 2011–2012 U.S. Republican primaries. Ninety-nine randomly selected articles from the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post covering Republican primary debates were hand coded for sentiment and compared with the frequency and sentiment of candidate-related geolocated tweets from urban American users. We also explored briefly whether there is any relationship between print media and tweet sentiment. Overall, the newspapers sampled as a whole had a weak relationship to tweet frequency and sentiment. Though journalists have a large presence on Twitter, the medium is clearly not a facsimile of print media and other opinions, values, and sentiments may have a stronger influence within the medium. This study is significant both in its mixed methods approach and in its finding that traditional print media coverage is not generally related to the frequency or sentiment of election-related tweets despite Twitter’s role as a key space for news production and consumption.

Learning and education for a better world: The role of social movements

The editors of Learning and Education for a Better World: The Role of Social Movements established for themselves an ambitious goal. As indicated in the introduction, they intend for the book to offer ‘new insights into the theories of how social movements work, deeper insights into the theory and practice of adult education in the context of political struggle, and new resources for hope’ (p.x). Each contribution to this edited volume investigates a different aspect of the intersection of adult education and social movement work. The volume is divided into three parts. The first is focused on theoretical and historical perspectives, the second on learning through cultural struggle and the third on ‘changing the world’. The interplay between education and social movements/ social change is the theme that ties the chapters together. While some chapters focus on education as a part of social movements (such as in the opening piece about an adult education program for South African militants), others show how education is the target of social movements, as demonstrated in Steinklammer’s piece on Austrian kindergarten teachers protesting for better education funding. Liam Kane provides a primer on popular education and a nice history of the popular education movement in Latin America. Darlene Clover’s and Stephen Brookfield’s respective articles both describe how art is an educational tool that is specifically appropriate for social movement work. In one of my favorite articles of the compilation, Astrid von Kotze describes a grassroots-based adult education system in South Africa in which the ‘students’ set their own curriculum and build the radical imaginings of an alternative social world. The examples von Kotze describes provide excellent lessons for teachers of all kinds about how to involve students in their own education. In addition, the ‘bottom-up’ model of freely available education described by von Kotze could provide a fascinating contrast with the largely ‘topdown’ massive online open courses or MOOCs that have been touted as democratizing higher education. Likewise, Budd L. Hall’s article describes the grassroots training and educational processes at the heart of the Occupy Movement, and how Occupy’s use of the Gateways: International Journal of Community Research and Engagement Vol 8/No 1 (2015): 167–68 © UTSePress and the author

Learning and Education for a Better World: The Role of Social Movements By Budd L. Hall, Darlene E. Clover, Jim Crowther, and Eurig Scandrett (Eds.)

Learning and Education for a Better World: The Role of Social MovementsBudd L. Hall, Darlene E. Clover, Jim Crowther, and Eurig Scandrett (Eds.). Sense Publishers, Rotterdam, 2012, 204 pages.

Social Movements and Economic Systems: From Market Change to Industry Creation

The past several years have brought public awareness of social movements to the forefront, from the Arab Spring to Occupy Wall Street, highlighting their ability to advocate for social change. In management research, the role of social movements in facilitating the emergence of new markets has increasingly become a research focus. This symposium brings together new research on social movements and the mechanisms through which they impact and alter economic systems. More specifically, it presents four studies that examine how and when social movements are able to address social issues by challenging existing markets and fostering the development of new ones. By explicating some of the key processes by which movement-supported markets emerge, this symposium facilitates discussion among scholars interested in the potential of markets to elicit social change. It also catalyzes dialogue on the implications for entrepreneurs and policy makers active in the development and promotion of markets benefiting the greater social good. Welcome to the Jungle: Activist and Firm Discourse and the Struggle Over Market Change Presenter: Jocelyn M. Leitzinger; U. of Wisconsin, Madison Presenter: Theodore L. Waldron; Baylor U. Presenter: Chad Navis; U. of Wisconsin, Madison SMO Strategy Choices and the Conditions that Affect Them Presenter: Charlene E. Zietsma; York U. Toward a Theory of Movement Driven Markets Presenter: Brandon H. Lee; Melbourne Business School The Institutional Antecedents of Greenwashing: SMOs and the Implementation of State RPS Policy Presenter: Wesley David Sine; Cornell U. Presenter: Arkangel Miguel Cordero; Cornell U.

"Sustainability Research: Role of Social Movements, Institutionalization & Resource Mobilization"

How does research on sustainability evolve over time? Is there a trend of convergence or divergence in sustainability research? Using social network methodology to analyze co-citation and keyword overlap among research articles on sustainability, we find a small world network (i.e., a network with many clusters but short average path length) in sustainability research but the small world index has decreased over time. To explain this evolutionary pattern, we integrate social movement theory, institutional theory, and the sociology of science and identify key factors influencing the development of sustainability research. We discuss the implications of our findings for future sustainability research as well as studies on the rise of interdisciplinary academic fields.

Migration, regional integration and social transformation: A North–South comparative approach

Migration flows, regional integration and social transformation are increasingly interlinked. This article seeks to provide some clarification of these processes through a global North–South comparative approach. The authors problematize regional integration and regionalization but also the legal or rights-based approach to migration, now emerging as the dominant progressive paradigm. They propose a social transformation perspective that foregrounds the role of social movements – in this case the trade unions – in relation to migration in a regional context. This would pose an alternative form of promoting the cause of migrant workers within a mobilizing perspective which prioritizes the agency of non-state actors such as trade unions. In brief, migrants can be viewed from a citizenship optic and as bearers of individual rights but also, the authors propose, as workers who can organize collectively to pursue their objectives.

Liberation psychology: a constructive critical praxis

Can a critical psychology be more than an inward looking critique of the discipline itself? Liberation psychology emerged in Latin America in the 1980s. It is a critical psychology with an action focus, taking sides with the oppressed populations of the continent. The originator of the approach, Ignacio Martín-Baró practiced psychology in the context of the El Salvador an civil war, himself becoming a victim of State repression. The consequences of social conflict have since then been an important theme for liberation psychology. Other areas of emphasis have been community social psychology with an emphasis on the role of social movements and social and political commentary and critique. I will present a review of the field covering some key concepts (conscientisation, de-ideologization, historical memory, reconstruction of psychology from the perspective of the other), its geographical spread (in Latin America and other regions), its organization (the emergence of liberation psychology networks and collectives) and some examples of work that is relevant to social trauma, the theme of this symposium.

Toplumsal hareketlerin ‘siyasal’ rolü: rasyonalist yaklaşımların eleştirel bir değerlendirmesi

The rationalist social movement approaches, which have been dominant in social movement literature, are curiously silent concerning how social movements transform existing social structures. This study contends that the silence of rationalist approaches on that issue is related with the failure of these approaches to conceptualize the ‘political’ role of social movements. It, first, outlines the conceptual distinction made by Claude Lefort, Chantal Mouffe, and Ernesto Laclau between ‘the political’ and ‘the politics’, and by Jacques Ranciere between ‘the politics’ and ‘the police’, in order to differentiate the moment of the institution of the social from the institutionalized politics. Then, examining rationalist approaches by drawing on this distinction, it argues that these approaches confine social movements within the boundaries of the conventional politics, ignoring the political role that movements can play. As such, they fail to conceptualize how movements challenge and transform existing social structures. The study concludes by pointing out the analytical and political effects of this conceptual weakness of rationalist approaches.

To be prepared when the time has come: Argentina’s new media regulation and the social movement for democratizing broadcasting

Concentrated and usually conservative media are characteristic of Latin American countries, and at the same time these structures undermine meaningful democracy. Given the political influence of large media conglomerates, even most center-left governments are reluctant to limit the power of influential companies. Argentina, however, passed a new comprehensive media law in 2009 designed to democratize the media sector. This article traces the origins of the law and analyzes the strategies of the actors involved, with the focus resting on the roles of social movements and large media companies. The article then presents the main features of the new regulation that social movements now take as a model case for other countries. I argue that the new law originates from an unusually participatory legislative process and furthers the democratization of communication. The passage of this law is explained through the associational capabilities of the movement, the potent framing of media regulation as a matter of democracy and the changing media–state dynamics that disrupted the long-standing mutually supporting ties between the dominant Clarín Group and the government.

International Law and Human Rights: Diverging and Converging Histories

Abstract This article explores ways to think about the historical intersections of international law and human rights visions and principles in a global context. It catalogues an intertwining of new historiographies, notably the recent convergence of research interests of historians and international lawyers that draws attention to non-linear analyses; the role of social movements in understanding developments in the law; and the importance of historical contexts for interpretation. It sketches one promising analytical framework to assess the dynamic interconnections of international law and human rights from the mid-nineteenth century through the formal creation of the human rights system under U.N. auspices between 1945 and 1949. It concludes with a case study of gender tensions in more recent human rights global politics to provide historically-specific examples of the new possibilities of bringing historical interpretations to the study of international law and human rights.

Democracy and People Power in Africa: still searching for the ‘political kingdom’

1This article analyses current trends in the struggle for democracy in Africa, including the role of social movements. Such movements found early expression in the anti-colonial movement, while recent uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt are reminiscent of the second liberation struggles of two decades earlier. The article undertakes a critical evaluation of emerging democratic forces in Africa, arguing that such a review is vital to the analysis of the trends in the struggles for people power, and explores strategies for avoiding the pitfalls that undermined earlier waves of democratisation in the continent, particularly that of the 1990s when initial euphoria led to uncritical acceptance of movements that were later found to be opportunistic and undemocratic. The article concludes by examining the conditions under which an ‘emanicipatory’ African national democratic project—defined by an increase in people's participation in authoritative resource allocation—can be initiated and sustained in the face of a deepening crisis of the current neoliberal world order.

Rural Movements and the Transition to Democracy in Spain

Scholars of Spain's democratic transition vary considerably in the role they attribute to movements. Spanish democratization is widely known for its successful elite negotiations and some describe it as an instance of democratization from above. For others it is a case of social movement activism creating problems for those elites negotiating the democratization process. Among those social movements, the least studied took place in the Spanish countryside. Rural movements played a role well beyond the standard accounts in two important ways. First, they challenged significant obstacles to democratization that elite deals had left in place at the local level. And, second, the local arena had major implications for the national scene. We trace the history of four rural campaigns that were a pivotal component of Spanish democratization. We conclude with some general observations on the role of social movements in imparting a dynamic character to democracy.

Preventing the gendered reproduction of citizenship: the role of social movements in South Africa

Social movements have an important role to play in shaping our understanding of the entitlements and human rights related to citizenship. Feminist movements, in particular, actively challenge and reshape gendered perceptions of citizenship generated by the state. The present article focuses on the ‘One in Nine Campaign’, which advocates for, among many things, legal changes in relation to gender-based violence in South Africa. Research into the Campaign reveals the utility in legal mobilisation as a strategy for feminist organising, and opens great potential for changing the way states see the law in relation to gender and women's rights. This, however, also raises fundamental questions about different understandings of citizenship and citizenship rights.

Hail the Snail: Hegemonic Struggles in the Slow Food Movement

This paper explores how new institutional fields are established and extended. We argue that they are created by social movements engaging in hegemonic struggles and which develop social movement strategies, articulate discourses and construct nodal points. We examine how this process played out during the creation and development of the Slow Food movement. We argue that the positioning of Slow Food as a new field was based particularly on using multiple strategies, increasing the stock of floating signifiers, and abstracting the nodal points used. This mobilized new actors and enabled a more extensive collective identity which allowed the movement to progress, extend, and elevate the field of Slow Food. The field of Slow Food was transformed from appealing only to gastronomes to becoming a broader field that encompassed social justice activists and environmentalists. This study contributes to the existing literature on field formation, the role of social movements in this process, and political dynamics within social movements. We focus on the importance of hegemony in the institutional processes around field formation by drawing out how Slow Food created a field through the forging of hegemonic links among a range of disparate actors.

Institutionalizing Social Movements: The Dual Strategy of the Korean Women's Movement

Since the 1990s, scholars have paid attention to the role of social movements traversing the official terrain of politics by blending a “contention” strategy with an “engagement” strategy. The literature often highlights the contribution of institutionalized social movements to policymaking and sociopolitical change, but rarely addresses why and how specific social movement organizations gain routine access to formal politics. Using the Korean women's movement as a case study, I analyze the conditions for movement institutionalization. As I perceive it as the consequence both of social movements' decision to participate in government and of the state's desire to integrate such movements into its decision-making process, movement institutionalization appears when the three factors are combined: (1) pressure from international organizations, (2) democratizing political structures, and (3) cognitive shifts by movement activists toward the role of the state.