Social Movements Compartion

Introduction

Why is it that specific movements succeed in broadening the scope and scales of the struggle, whereas other do not? Given the dearth of resources at their disposal, social movements see to attract the attention, empathy, and support of third parties, as a way to balance the unfavorable asymmetric power structure in which they are situated. The importance of expanding the scope of contention and attracting supporters become even more critical in cases of ethnic driven movements, given the nature of their goals and the frequency with which restrictions are imposed on their collective sentiments by the state.

Globalization and the Battle of Seattle

Globalization describes what a number of people perceive as a fundamental change in the conditions of human life. Just what has changed and how it has changed, however, are matters of great contention. Nonetheless, current writing on globalization focuses on some specific trends that appear to have pushed the sources and implications of social action beyond state borders. Recent transformations in transportation and communications technologies have altered our sense of distance, radically compressing time and space. Territorial states have apparently lost some of their capacities to establish order or mediate change within their borders. The number and power of intergovernmental institutions and multinational corporations have grown remarkably. The communications media are increasingly global in both their reference and their reach, and the media also help provide resources in the building of transnational epistemic communities of immigrants or like-minded activists.

Social movements ride the waves of these global processes and formations; in turn, they begin to define ne...

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