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What role do social movements play in a democracy? Political theorist S. Laurel Weldon demonstrates that social movements provide a hitherto unrecognised form of democratic representation, and thus offer a significant potential for deepening democracy and overcoming social conflict. Through a series of case studies of movements conducted by women, women of colour, and workers in the United States and other member nations of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Weldo...

A powerfully empathetic and impeccably researched look at abortion clinic escorting, which Rebecca Traister (New York Times bestselling author of Good and Mad) calls “one of the most under-covered and crucial, lifesaving, rigorous forms of activism out there." Incisive, eye-opening, and uplifting, Bodies on the Line makes a clear case for the right to an abortion as a fundamental part of human dignity and the stakes facing us all if it ends. Abortion has been legal for nearly fifty years in the...

The focus of this work is on the liberation struggle of Kerala's Pulaya dalits (oppressed or outcast peoples). It examines their conversion to Christianity, participation in ethnic social movements and alliance with the communist party - their main options against bonded slavery and humiliation.

Civil society activism around issues of global justice has proliferated in Europe during the past two decades. Has such contestation and advocacy made a difference? This book examines whether and how the organizations, networks and campaigns involved have attained their policy objectives in the areas of debt relief, international trade, international taxation and corporate accountability. The analysis also considers the relationship between national and transnational activism. By comparing varia...

Although once regarded as scientific and neutral policy research institutions committed to improving governmental decision-making, think-tanks in the United States have in recent decades, made a concentrated effort to become active participants in the political arena. This study examines the changing role of think-tanks in the United States and their growing involvement in the foreign policy-making process. It identifies a number of think-tanks which played an active role in advising Carter and...

A compact pocket guide explaining the different types of lobbies, the decision-making system within the EU, as well as outlining the most opportune times for lobbying during the decision-making process. Contact details of some seven hundred trade associations and NGOs involved in lobbying are also provided, as well as diplomatic and other representations in Brussels.

Ralph Nader, Peter Camejo, David Cobb, Sharon Smith, Norman Solomon and other Green Party members and allies ask: can we break the two-party stranglehold on US politics? and debate strategy for how to build a challenge to the Republicans and an increasingly corporate Democratic Party. A valuable contribution to our thinking about that controversial and difficult subject - the role of an opposition third party.' - Howard Zinn'

Working for Justice, which includes eleven case studies of recent low-wage worker organizing campaigns in Los Angeles, makes the case for a distinctive "L.A. Model" of union and worker center organizing. Networks linking advocates in worker centers and labor unions facilitate mutual learning and synergy and have generated a shared repertoire of economic justice strategies. The organized labor movement in Los Angeles has weathered the effects of deindustrialization and deregulation better than un...

Why do conservatives always seem to lose, even when Republicans win? With considerable firsthand experience in politics and an engaging analytical perspective, Steve Deace provides the answer. Why does the Republican Party always seem to betray conservatives in the end? How come Leftists never worry some "squishy" moderate will win Democrat primaries, even though conservatives in the GOP are constantly fighting that battle? Why do GOP leaders typically fight the conservative base harder than th...

An existential manual for tragic optimists, can-do pessimists, and compassionate doomers With global heating projected to rocket past the 1.5°C limit, lifelong activist Andrew Boyd is thrown into a crisis of hope, and off on a quest to learn how to live with the "impossible news" of our climate doom. He searches out eight of today's leading climate thinkers — from activist Tim DeChristopher to collapse-psychologist Jamey Hecht, grassroots strategist adrienne maree brown, eco-philosopher Joana Ma...

When supporters and critics of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet squared off against each other in the streets and elsewhere following his death in December 2006, most observers saw this conflict as another stage in the continuing struggle between authoritarian and antiauthoritarian forces in Latin America. Gwynn Thomas, however, looks below the surface of these events to reveal a set of cultural beliefs-shared, surprisingly, by both sides-about the role of the family in Chilean life. In...

Since the end of the Cold War fundamentalism has been seen as the major threat to world peace and prosperity, a concern that was exacerbated by the events of 9/11, and the War Against Terrorism. But what does Fundamentalism really mean? This is the first book to expose the real nature and spread of both secular and religious fundamentalism worldwide, and to explore the many different forms this can take. Fundamentalism is a problematic term that eludes easy definitions. Since it was coined by Am...