Donatella Della Porta

This collection explores conceptions and practices of democracy of social movement organizations involved in global protest. Focusing on the global justice movement this book shows how they adopt radical new democratic approaches and thus provide a fundamental critique of conventional politics.

"This timely new book addresses the anti-austerity social movements of which these protests form part, mobilizing in the context of a crisis of neoliberalism. Donatella della Porta shows that, in order to understand their main facets in terms of social basis, strategy, and identity and organizational structures, we should look at the specific characteristics of the socioeconomic, cultural and political context in which they developed."

"Protest campaigns against large-scale public works usually take place within a local context. However, since the 1990s new forms of protest have been emerging. This book analyses two cases from Italy that illustrate this development: the environmentalist protest campaigns against the TAV (the building of a new high-speed railway in Val de Susa, close to the border with France), and the construction of the Bridge on the Messina Straits (between Calabria and Sicily). Such mobilizations emerge from local conflicts but develop as part of a global justice movement, often resulting in the production of new identities. They are promoted through multiple networks of different social and political groups, that share common claims and adopt various forms of protest action. It is during the protest campaigns that a sense of community is created."--Jacket.

"The contributors to this book analyze the various forms of corruption in Western European countries, in Russia and in Japan, and assess its impact on the political and administrative system, on political parties and on standards in public life."--Bloomsbury Publishing.

"In Corrupt Exchanges primary research on the more conspicuous Italian case (judicial proceedings, in-depth interviews, parliamentary documents, and press databases), combined with a cross-national comparison based on a secondary analysis of corruption in democratic systems, is used to develop a model to analyze corruption as a network of illegal exchanges. The authors explore the structure of that network in great detail. These processes of degeneration have caused a crisis in the dominant paradigm in both academic and political considerations of corruption."--BOOK JACKET. "The book will serve both as a theoretical approach to a political problem of large bearing on democratic institutions and as a descriptive warning of a system in peril."--BOOK JACKET.

The growing interdependence on a global scale, which characterizes the human condition at the turn of the century, constitutes a challenge for both the mobilization of social movements and social movement theory. The present volume attempts to adjust the perspective of the 'political process' approach to a world in which political opportunities, mobilizing structures, framing processes and collective action of social movements are no longer confined to national political contexts.

'Social Movements and Europeanization' addresses the relationship between social movements and Europe, locating contemporary social movements in a broader scenario of political conflicts around European integration.

A comprehensive introduction and critical analysis of collective action in society today.

"The concepts of power and democracy have been extensively studied at global, national and local levels and within institutions including states, international organizations and political parties. However, the interplay of those concepts within social movements is given far less attention. Studies have so far mainly focused on protest activities rather than the internal practices of deliberation and democratic decision-making. Meeting Democracy presents empirical research which examines in detail how power is distributed and how consensus is reached in twelve Global Justice Movement groups, with detailed observations of how they operate in France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Switzerland and the UK. Written by leading political scientists and sociologists, this work contributes significantly to the wider literature on power and deliberative democracy within political science and sociology"-- "Meeting Democracy The concepts of power and democracy have been extensively studied at the global, national and local levels and within institutions including states, international organizations and political parties. However, the interplay of those concepts within social movements is given far lesser attention. Studies have so far mainly focused on their protest activities rather than the internal practices of deliberation and democratic decision-making. Meeting Democracy presents empirical research which examines in detail how power is distributed and how consensus is reached in twelve Global Justice Movement organizations, with detailed observations of how they operate in France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Switzerland and the UK. "--

xxxviii, 308 p. ; 21 cm