Social movements have an elusive power but one that is altogether real. From the French and American revolutions to the post-Soviet, ethnic and terrorist movements of today, contentious politics exercises a fleeting but powerful influence on politics, society and international relations. This study surveys the modern history of the modern social movements in the West and their diffusion to the global South through war, colonialism and diffusion, and it puts forward a theory to explain its cyclical surges and declines. It offers an interpretation of the power of movements that emphasizes effects on the lives of militants, policy reforms, political institutions and cultural change. The book focuses on the rise and fall of social movements as part of contentious politics in general and as the outcome of changes in political opportunities and constraints, state strategy, the new media of communication and transnational diffusion.
The years 1934-1944 remain most contentious and dramatic decade in modern French history. After the bourgeois self-confidence of the 1020s, France was plunged into a depression out of which there seem
Dawkins examines the forces that made the nude a contentious image in the early Third Republic. Analyzing the evolving relationship between the fine-art nude, print culture and censorship, Heather Dawkins explores how artists, art critics, politicians, bureaucrats, lawyers, and judges evaluated the nude. She shows how spectatorship of the nude was refracted through the ideals of art, femininity, republican liberty, and public decency. An art form made for and by men, the nude was rarely the subject of serious engagement on the part of women. A few, nevertheless, attempted to take up the issues and challenges of the nude. Dawkins investigates in detail how these women reshaped the genre of the nude and its spectatorship in order for it to accommodate their own experience and subjectivity.
A new look at a contentious period in the history of the Atlantic world Within just a half century, the American, French, Haitian, and Spanish American revolutions transformed the Atlantic world
A new look at a contentious period in the history of the Atlantic world Within just a half century, the American, French, Haitian, and Spanish American revolutions transformed the Atlantic world
In the past decade, the French delicacy foie gras—the fattened liver of ducks or geese that have been force-fed through a tube—has been at the center of contentious battles. In Contested Tastes, Micha
In this new book, the beloved people's Pope reveals his views on the contentious political issues of our time—from immigration to climate change.Pope Francis met with French reporter and sociologist D
"Written in the aftermath of the deaths of the French philosophers Jacques Derrida (1930-2004) and Paul Ricoeur (1913-2005). this book is an important and innovative study of the contentious relation
The interpretation of the French Revolution has long been the most contentious issue in French history.How the Revolution should be remembered has been the focus of debates concerned as much with Fran
Written in the aftermath of the deaths of the French philosophers Jacques Derrida (1930-2004) and Paul Ricoeur (1913-2005), this book is an important and innovative study of the contentious relation b
Contention and Democracy in Europe, 1650–2000, first published in 2004, is an analysis of the relationship between democratization and contentious politics that builds upon the model set forth in the pathbreaking book, Dynamics of Contention. Using a sustained comparison of French and British histories since 1650 or so as a springboard for more general comparison within Europe Contention and Democracy goes on to demonstrate that democratization occurred as result of struggles during which (as in 19th century Britain and France) few, if any, of the participants were self-consciously trying to create democratic institutions. Consequently, circumstances for democratization vary from era to era, region to region as functions of previous history, international environments, available models of political organization, and predominant patterns of social relations.
Contention and Democracy in Europe, 1650–2000, first published in 2004, is an analysis of the relationship between democratization and contentious politics that builds upon the model set forth in the pathbreaking book, Dynamics of Contention. Using a sustained comparison of French and British histories since 1650 or so as a springboard for more general comparison within Europe Contention and Democracy goes on to demonstrate that democratization occurred as result of struggles during which (as in 19th century Britain and France) few, if any, of the participants were self-consciously trying to create democratic institutions. Consequently, circumstances for democratization vary from era to era, region to region as functions of previous history, international environments, available models of political organization, and predominant patterns of social relations.
The integration of West Germany into the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) became one of the most important and contentious problems of post-war security. Increasing Cold War tensions during and after 1949 had led Britain to consider the need to rearm West Germany. Yet fears of a resurgent Germany existed both in Britain and on the continent. The timing and manner of German incorporation was crucial and became the subject of lengthy negotiations. Using extensive archival material, Saki Dockrill stresses how the government was forced to react to the constantly changing positions adopted by the USA, France and Germany itself and addresses three main issues: What made Britain accept the need for a German contribution to the defence of Western Europe? Why was Britain reluctant to encourage any hasty American and French proposals? And why did Britain eventually put forward proposals that successfully resolved the crisis? This was the first book-length analysis of the formulation of