Transnational Struggles for Recognition ― New Perspectives on Civil Society Since the 20th Century

Now more than ever, "recognition" represents a critical concept for social movements, both as a strategic tool and an important policy aim. While the subject's theoretical and empirical dimensions have usually been studied separately, this interdisciplinary collection focuses on both to examine the pursuit of recognition against a transnational backdrop. With a special emphasis on the efforts of women's and Jewish organizations in 20th-century Europe, the studies collected here show how recognition can be meaningfully understood in historical-analytical terms, while demonstrating the extent to which transnationalization determines a movement's reach and effectiveness.

Dieter Rucht is a professor of sociology at the Freie Universitat Berlin. Before his retirement he was co-director of a research group on civil society and political mobilization at the WZB Berlin Social Science Center. Among his best-known works on the sociology of the public sphere and social movements is Modernisierung und neue soziale Bewegungen. Deutschland, Frankreich und USA im Vergleich (Campus 1994).