Activists Forever

Using a global array of case studies, this collection explores the consequences of political involvement on an individual's life.

When speaking colloquially of political participation or civic action, one thinks, in the first instance, of groups and organizations such as political parties, social movements or various types of voluntary associations. The perspective of individuals is not the first thing that comes to mind when seeking to understand their functioning. In contrast to this vision, understanding the dynamics of participation requires taking a closer look at the individual, that is, at his or her moral dispositions and projects, his or her multiple and simultaneous identities, the breaking points in his or her biographical trajectory, the roles he or she adopts in an organization or the styles of communication which he or she uses. The book comprises a variety of case studies and theoretical and methodological contributions that, independent of rational choice theories, seek to understand collective action at the level of the individual and, in doing so, to articulate the various fields of study in this regard with the singularity of biographies and the reflective personal identities that characterize contemporary individualism.

“Canada’s best-known voice of dissent.” — CBC “It’s time we listened to the Maude Barlows of the world.” — CNN In this timely book, Barlow counters the prevailing atmosphere of pessimism that surrounds us and offers lessons of hope that she has learned from a lifetime of activism. She has been a linchpin in three major movements in her life: second-wave feminism, the battle against free trade and globalization, and the global fight for water justice. From each of these she draws her lessons of hope, emphasizing that effective activism is not really about the goal, rather it is about building a movement and finding like-minded people to carry the load with you. Barlow knows firsthand how hard fighting for change can be. But she also knows that change does happen and that hope is the essential ingredient.

Learning behind Bars is an oral history of former Irish republican prisoners in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland between 1971, the year internment was introduced, and 2000, when the high-security Long Kesh Detention Centre/HM Prison Maze closed. Dieter Reinisch outlines the role of politically motivated prisoners in ending armed conflicts as well as the personal and political development of these radical activists during their imprisonment. Based on extensive life-story interviews with Irish Republican Army (IRA) ex-prisoners, the book examines how political prisoners developed their intellectual positions through the interplay of political education and resistance. It sheds light on how prisoners used this experience to initiate the debates that eventually led to acceptance of the peace process in Northern Ireland. Politically relevant and instructive, Learning behind Bars illuminates the value of education, politics, and resistance in the harshest of social environments.

Moss presents a new theoretical framework for explaining when anti-authoritarian diaspora movements emerge and become transnational agents of change.

Using original fieldwork, Violent Resistance explains when, where, and how communities form militias to defend themselves in civil wars.

"The Oxford Handbook of Political Participation provides readers with up-to-date knowledge on the wide-ranging topics covered in this field and considers the key theoretical and methodological pluralism in the area as well the most recent developments. One of the aims of this Handbook is to bring together two research traditions from political science and sociology, bridging research in political sociology and social movement studies. Accordingly, the Handbook mainly brings together authors coming from both the politics and sociology research traditions, as well as key authors working on political participation coming also from other fields such as psychology, economics, anthropology, and geography. The volume provides the first comprehensive, up-to-date treatment of political participation in all of its varied expression; it covers a wide range of topics relating to the study of political participation, both from a theoretical and methodological perspective; it brings together the political science and political sociology tradition, on the one hand, and the social movement sociological tradition, on the other; it is sensitive to theoretical and methodological pluralism as well as the most recent developments in the field; and includes discussions combining perspectives that have traditionally been treated separately in the literature as well as discussions of current trends and future directions for research in this field"--