Social Movements, Civil Society and Contentious Politics

1
Social Movements, Civil Society and Contentious
Politics

• Andrej Findor
• UNDIAC Summer School on Contesting Democracy
• Antwerp, Belgium
• July 2009

2
Civil Society

• empirical concept
• organised groups operating somewhere between
  the state on the one hand, and the realm of the
  family and the individual on the other (Cas
  Mudde)
• normative concept
• desirable project embodying certain aspirations
  about the organisation of modern society
  champion of democracy (Ibid.)

3
Social Movement

• a collective, organised, sustained and
  noninstitutional challenge to authorities,
  powerholders, or cultural beliefs and practices
  (Jeff Goodwin and James M. Jasper)

4
Social Movement

• campaign a sustained, organized public effort
  making collective claims on target authorities
  (Charles Tilly)
• repertoire employment of combinations from
  among the following forms of political action
  creation of special-purpose associations, public
  meetings, solemn processions, vigils, rallies,
  demonstrations, petition drives, statements to
  and in public media, and pamphleteering (Ibid.)
• WUNC displays participants' concerted public
  representations of Worthiness, Unity, Numbers,
  and Commitment on the part of themselves and/or
  their constituencies (Ibid.)

5
Contentious Politics

• is a collective political struggle
• episodic, public, collective interaction among
  makers of claims and their objects when
• (a) at least one government is a claimant, an
  object of claims, or a party to the claims and
  (b) the claims would, if realized, affect the
  interests of at least one of the claimants
  (Charles Tilly)