People's Rights ― Social Movements and the State in the Third World

Social movements for cultural rights, nationhood, women's rights, and tribal rights constitute some of the currents of resistance to various forms of oppression and domination in the third world. People's Rights presents these contemporary movements as democratic assertions of people's rights, thereby challenging the dominant political theory of capitalist globalization. The contributors examine case studies from Asia and Africa of successful and unsuccessful social movements that illustrate the nature of the dilemmas in the developing world. Rather than locating rights in the individualist tradition of Western liberalism, they are viewed as an affirmation of the political conditions of human existence, involving a struggle against class exploitation and social oppression. Challenging Western notions of human rights, nationhood, civil society, and citizenship, the articles contain fresh insights for reconceptualizing democratic rights. These original formulations on the relationship between the state and civil society, social transformation and the multidimensional nature of freedom open up new vistas for theoretical exploration. People's Rights will be of interest to those studying political theory, social movements, human rights, cultural studies, or sociology.