Abstract

Debates over social movements have suffered from a predominate focus on North America and western Europe, often neglecting the significance of collective action in the global South. Citizenship and Social Movements seeks to partially redress this imbalance with case studies from Brazil, India, Bangladesh, Mexico, South Africa and Nigeria. This volume points to the complex relationships that influence mobilization and social movements in the South, suggesting that previous theories have underplayed the influence of state power and elite dominance in the government and in NGOs. As the contributors to this book clearly show, understanding the role of the state in relation to social movements is critical to determining when collective action can fulfil the promise of bringing the rights of the marginalized to the fore.
Lisa Thompson is Director of the African Citizenship and Democracy (ACCEDE) and Professor at the School of Government, University of the Western Cape. Her work focuses on issues of socio-economic development in the context of the global political economy. She has published widely on research pertaining to regional development and democratisation processes in southern Africa. She serves as South African coordinator of the Development Research Centre on Citizenship, Participation and Accountability. Chris Tapscott is Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa and was formerly the founding director of the School of Government in the same institution. He has been an active member of the Development Research Centre on Citizenship, Participation and Accountability.
'This book offers a significant corrective to the Northern/western centric bias in much of the social movement literature and many of the case studies included offer evidence and insights through which the theoretical understandings of social movements could be refined and developed. Furthermore, through its specific focus on social movements, this volume makes an important contribution to the range of conceptual tools through which 'claiming citizenship' maybe understood and analysed.' Neil Stammers, University of Sussex 'Analysing social movements in Bangladesh, India, Brazil, Mexico, Nigeria and South Africa, this book presents a distinct and diverse picture of collective action – and also shows how this picture defies many of the theoretical assumptions of Northern literature on the subject. With a combination of concerns with historical and contextual background, specific characteristics of states and political systems, and cultural and political identities, this thorough and sophisticated analysis of the struggles around citizenship and rights provides a splendid venue for the debate on the limits and possibilities of social mobilization in confronting the deeply rooted and multidimensional inequality of Southern societies.' Evelina Dagnino, University of Campinas 'Citizenship is back in the centre-stage of scholarly research on state and society in the contemporary world. This collection of essays, made up of original studies from across the global South, examines the ways in which through everyday action, citizens organise to extend the boundaries of rights, deepen the foundations of participation and exact accountable governance. Individually and collectively, the essays make an important statement about comparative democracy and governance enriched with the insights from the vast experiences of Southern social movements. Students across the social and human sciences will find the perspectives that are very ably presented on contemporary citizenship and social movements by some of the best scholars based in the global South both refreshing and invigoriating' Adebayo Olukoshi, African Institute for Economic Development and Planning