Download or read book Activism and the Policy Process written by Anna Yeatman and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-07-29 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Activists - protecting rainforests, demanding increased childcare, developing local community housing, campaigning for AIDS funding or protecting consumers - are as much part of the political landscape as the media, parliament, peak industry groups, political parties or trade unions. This collection explores the idea of policy activism and its relationship to the processes that not only set but implement and deliver the policy agenda. Policy activists operate both inside and outside government. They include community-based organisers, activist bureaucrats, service providers and professionals. Policy activism has been barely explored in existing literature. This collection puts the idea on the map. It is an innovative contribution to the literature, using case studies across a broad range of policy areas. 'This volume opens the window on an aspect of the policy process that rarely receives attention from students of politics or policy anywhere across the globe. The framework presented and the cases included in these pages provide a glimpse of the workings of a complex democracy, describing a range of actors responding creatively to the dynamics of social, political and economic change. It is fascinating to see how policy functions and social values appear to be more important to these processes than the formal structures of the government in which they are placed.' - Beryl A. Radin, Professor of Public Administration and Policy, State University of New York at Albany

Download or read book How Policies Make Citizens written by Andrea Louise Campbell and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2005-02-13 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Some groups participate in politics more than others. Why? And does it matter for policy outcomes? In this richly detailed and fluidly written book, Andrea Campbell argues that democratic participation and public policy powerfully reinforce each other. Through a case study of senior citizens in the United States and their political activity around Social Security, she shows how highly participatory groups get their policy preferences fulfilled, and how public policy itself helps create political inequality. Using a wealth of unique survey and historical data, Campbell shows how the development of Social Security helped transform seniors from the most beleaguered to the most politically active age group. Thus empowered, seniors actively defend their programs from proposed threats, shaping policy outcomes. The participatory effects are strongest for low-income seniors, who are most dependent on Social Security. The program thus reduces political inequality within the senior population--a laudable effect--while increasing inequality between seniors and younger citizens. A brief look across policies shows that program effects are not always positive. Welfare recipients are even less participatory than their modest socioeconomic backgrounds would imply, because of the demeaning and disenfranchising process of proving eligibility. Campbell concludes that program design profoundly shapes the nature of democratic citizenship. And proposed policies--such as Social Security privatization--must be evaluated for both their economic and political effects, because the very quality of democratic government is influenced by the kinds of policies it chooses.

Download or read book Activism Inclusion and the Challenges of Deliberative Democracy written by Anna Drake and published by UBC Press. This book was released on 2021-03-01 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Deliberative democracy – whereby people debate competing ideas before agreeing upon political action – must rest on its capacity to include all points of view. But how does this inclusive framework engage with activism that occurs in opposition to deliberative systems themselves? Through the examples of ACT UP, Black Lives Matter, and other contemporary activist movements, Activism, Inclusion, and the Challenges of Deliberative Democracy explores the systemic oppression that prevents activists from participating in deliberative systems as equals. Anna Drake concludes that only by addressing activism separately and on its own terms can we acknowledge its distinct democratic contribution.

Download or read book The Making of Pro life Activists written by Ziad W. Munson and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2010-07-15 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How do people become activists for causes they care deeply about? Many people with similar backgrounds, for instance, fervently believe that abortion should be illegal, but only some of them join the pro-life movement. By delving into the lives and beliefs of activists and nonactivists alike, Ziad W. Munson is able to lucidly examine the differences between them. Through extensive interviews and detailed studies of pro-life organizations across the nation, Munson makes the startling discovery that many activists join up before they develop strong beliefs about abortion—in fact, some are even pro-choice prior to their mobilization. Therefore, Munson concludes, commitment to an issue is often a consequence rather than a cause of activism. The Making of Pro-life Activists provides a compelling new model of how people become activists while also offering a penetrating analysis of the complex relationship between religion, politics, and the pro-life movement. Policy makers, activists on both sides of the issue, and anyone seeking to understand how social movements take shape will find this book essential.

Download or read book Politics and Social Activism written by Information Resources Management Association and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores the concept of civil disobedience and how social and political upheaval has characterized the modern sociopolitical system. From the Arab Spring to the Egyptian uprising, this three-volume reference book includes chapters on topics including social media, democratic policies, online activism, urbanism, leadership, and socioeconomic disparity.

Download or read book The Paradox of Gender Equality written by Kristin A Goss and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2020-07-20 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Kristin A. Goss examines how women’s civic place has changed over the span of more than 120 years, how public policy has driven these changes, and why these changes matter for women and American democracy. As measured by women’s groups’ appearances before the U.S. Congress, women’s collective political engagement continued to grow between 1920 and 1960—when many conventional accounts claim it declined—and declined after 1980, when it might have been expected to grow. Goss asks what women have gained, and perhaps lost, through expanded incorporation, as well as whether single-sex organizations continue to matter in 21st-century America.

Download or read book The Activist Academic written by Colette Cann and published by Myers Education Press. This book was released on 2020-05-29 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Donald Trump’s election forced academics to confront the inadequacy of promoting social change through the traditional academic work of research, writing, and teaching. Scholars joined crowds of people who flooded the streets to protest the event. The present political moment recalls intellectual forbearers like Antonio Gramsci who, imprisoned during an earlier fascist era, demanded that intellectuals committed to justice “can no longer consist in eloquence ... but in active participation in practical life, as constructor, organizer, ‘permanent persuader’ and not just a simple orator" (Gramsci, 1971, p. 10). Indeed, in an era of corporate media and “alternative facts,” academics committed to justice cannot simply rely on disseminating new knowledge, but must step out of the ivory tower and enter the streets as activists. The Activist Academic serves as a guide for merging activism into academia. Following the journey of two academics, the book offers stories, frameworks and methods for how scholars can marry their academic selves, involved in scholarship, teaching and service, with their activist commitments to justice, while navigating the lived realities of raising families and navigating office politics. This volume invites academics across disciplines to enter into a dialogue about how to take knowledge to the streets. Perfect for courses such as: Introduction to Social Theory | Social Foundations | Certificate in Public Scholarship | Practicing Public Scholarship | Reimagining Public Engagement | Decentering the Public Humanities hrClick HERE to see a video of the book launch, moderated by Monisha Bajaj for Imagining America, with contributions from Margo Okazawa-Rey and John Saltmarsh. hrWatch the #CompactNationPod interview, which runs between minutes 9:35 and 48:45. In this episode, Marisol Morales chats with Colette Cann and Eric DeMeulenaere, as they share the true stories of their lives as activists, scholars, and parents who are trying to push forward social change through academic work.Compact Nation Podcast · The Activist Academic hr What does it mean to be both an activist and an academic? Watch the FreshEd podcast Becoming an Activist Academic, which features authors Colette Cann & Eric DeMeulenaere discussing their own journeys as a guide for merging activism and academia. hr

Download or read book Art Agenda written by Silke Krohn and published by Gestalten Verlag. This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the current interrelationship between art, activism, and politics. It presents new visual concepts and commentaries that are being used to represent and communicate emotionally charged topics, thereby bringing them onto local political and social agendas in a way far more powerful than words alone. It looks at how art is not only reflecting and setting agendas, but also how it is influencing political reaction. Consequently, Art & Agenda is not only a perceptive documentation of current urban interventions, installations, performances, sculptures, and paintings by more than 100 young and established artists, but also points to future forms of political discourse.

Download or read book The Political Power of Protest written by Daniel Q. Gillion and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2013-04-15 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is the first to provide quantifiable evidence that protest shifts the policy positions of national political leaders for each branch of government. Drawing on daily presidential rhetoric, roll call votes of congressional leaders, and Supreme Court decisions, the book demonstrates that national politicians take cues from minority protest activity that later lead to major shifts in public policy, rivaling the influence that minorities have through elections and public opinion.

Download or read book How Party Activism Survives written by Pérez Bentancur Pérez and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-10-24 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores the value of an organization-centered approach to understanding parties and their role in democratic representation.

Download or read book Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency written by Doug McAdam and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2010-05-15 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this classic work of sociology, Doug McAdam presents a political-process model that explains the rise and decline of the black protest movement in the United States. Moving from theoretical concerns to empirical analysis, he focuses on the crucial role of three institutions that foster protest: black churches, black colleges, and Southern chapters of the NAACP. He concludes that political opportunities, a heightened sense of political efficacy, and the development of these three institutions played a central role in shaping the civil rights movement. In his new introduction, McAdam revisits the civil rights struggle in light of recent scholarship on social movement origins and collective action. "[A] first-rate analytical demonstration that the civil rights movement was the culmination of a long process of building institutions in the black community."—Raymond Wolters, Journal of American History "A fresh, rich, and dynamic model to explain the rise and decline of the black insurgency movement in the United States."—James W. Lamare, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science

Download or read book When Protest Makes Policy written by Laurel Weldon and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2022-10-20 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A must-read for scholars across a broad sweep of disciplines. Laurel Weldon weaves together skillfully the theoretical strands of gender equality policy, intersectionality, social movements, and representation in a multimethod/level comparative study that unequivocally places women's movements at the center of our understanding of democracy and social change." ---Amy G. Mazur, Washington State University "Laurel Weldon's When Protest Makes Policy expands and enriches our understanding of representation by stressing social movements as a primary avenue for the representation of marginalized groups. With powerful theory backed by persuasive analysis, it is a must-read for anyone interested in democracy and the representation of marginalized groups." ---Pamela Paxton, University of Texas at Austin "This is a bold and exciting book. There are many fine scholars who look at women's movements, political theorists who make claims about democracy, and policy analysts who do longitudinal treatments or cross-sectional evaluations of various policies. I know of no one, aside from Weldon, who is comfortable with all three of these roles." ---David Meyer, University of California, Irvine What role do social movements play in a democracy? Political theorist S. Laurel Weldon demonstrates that social movements provide a hitherto unrecognized form of democratic representation, and thus offer a significant potential for deepening democracy and overcoming social conflict. Through a series of case studies of movements conducted by women, women of color, and workers in the United States and other member nations of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Weldon examines processes of representation at the local, state, and national levels. She concludes that, for systematically disadvantaged groups, social movements can be as important---sometimes more important---for the effective articulation of a group perspective as political parties, interest groups, or the physical presence of group members in legislatures. When Protest Makes Policy contributes to the emerging scholarship on civil society as well as the traditional scholarship on representation. It will be of interest to anyone concerned with advancing social cohesion and deepening democracy and inclusion as well as those concerned with advancing equality for women, ethnic and racial minorities, the working class, and poor people. S. Laurel Weldon is Professor of Political Science at Purdue University.

Download or read book Doing Democracy written by Bill Moyer and published by New Society Publishers. This book was released on 2001-08-01 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An empowering guide to understanding the strategies behind successful social movements.

Download or read book Religion and Progressive Activism written by Ruth Braunstein and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2017-06-13 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New stories about religiously motivated progressive activism challenge common understandings of the American political landscape. To many mainstream-media saturated Americans, the terms “progressive” and “religious” may not seem to go hand-in-hand. As religion is usually tied to conservatism, an important way in which religion and politics intersect is being overlooked. Religion and Progressive Activism focuses on this significant intersection, revealing that progressive religious activists are a driving force in American public life, involved in almost every political issue or area of public concern. This volume brings together leading experts who dissect and analyze the inner worlds and public strategies of progressive religious activists from the local to the transnational level. It provides insight into documented trends, reviews overlooked case studies, and assesses the varied ways in which progressive religion forces us to deconstruct common political binaries such as right/left and progress/tradition. In a coherent and accessible way, this book engages and rethinks long accepted theories of religion, of social movements, and of the role of faith in democratic politics and civic life. Moreover, by challenging common perceptions of religiously motivated activism, it offers a more grounded and nuanced understanding of religion and the American political landscape.

Download or read book Women and American Politics written by Susan J. Carroll and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2003-02-06 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Women and American Politics brings together leading scholars in the field of women and politics to provide an account of recent developments and the challenges that the future brings for the study of gender and American Politics. The book examines women's participation in the electoral arena and the emerging scholarship on the relationship between the media and women in politics, the participation of women of colour, and women's activism outside the electoral arena. This volume demonstrates both the wealth of knowledge about women and American politics by the current generation of scholars and the vast number and range of important research questions, which pose a challenge for the next generation.

Download or read book How Policies Make Citizens written by Andrea Louise Campbell and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2011-10-16 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Some groups participate in politics more than others. Why? And does it matter for policy outcomes? In this richly detailed and fluidly written book, Andrea Campbell argues that democratic participation and public policy powerfully reinforce each other. Through a case study of senior citizens in the United States and their political activity around Social Security, she shows how highly participatory groups get their policy preferences fulfilled, and how public policy itself helps create political inequality. Using a wealth of unique survey and historical data, Campbell shows how the development of Social Security helped transform seniors from the most beleaguered to the most politically active age group. Thus empowered, seniors actively defend their programs from proposed threats, shaping policy outcomes. The participatory effects are strongest for low-income seniors, who are most dependent on Social Security. The program thus reduces political inequality within the senior population--a laudable effect--while increasing inequality between seniors and younger citizens. A brief look across policies shows that program effects are not always positive. Welfare recipients are even less participatory than their modest socioeconomic backgrounds would imply, because of the demeaning and disenfranchising process of proving eligibility. Campbell concludes that program design profoundly shapes the nature of democratic citizenship. And proposed policies--such as Social Security privatization--must be evaluated for both their economic and political effects, because the very quality of democratic government is influenced by the kinds of policies it chooses.

Download or read book How Organizations Develop Activists written by Hahrie Han and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2014 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why are some civic associations better than others at getting-and keeping-people involved in activism? Using in-person observations, surveys, and field experiments, this book compares and describes contemporary models for engaging activists to show the effectiveness of one that combine political activism with transformative personal and collective growth.