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Protest and Opportunities

A Theory of Social Movements and Political Change

Although grass-roots social movements are an important force of social and political change, they quite often fail to achieve their lofty goals. Similarly, the inability of research to systematically explain the impact of such movements stands in sharp contrast to their emotional appeal. Protest, Opportunities, and Mechanisms attempts to rejuvenate current scholarship by developing a comprehensive theory of social movements and political change.
In addition to reviewing the existing literature on the political outcomes of social movements, this volume analyzes the examples of the American civil rights movement and anti-nuclear energy efforts in eighteen countries to forge a new understanding of their momentous impact.

360 pages | 5 1/2 x 8 3/8

Political Science: Political and Social Theory

Sociology: General Sociology


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Table of Contents

Foreword
Introduction
Why and how this book
 
Part I: A Theory of Social Movements and Political Change
Chapter 1:  Collective Goods, Public Policies, Political Institutions, and Political Change
Chapter 2:  Social Movement Strength, Tactics, and the Viability of Political Goals
Chapter 3:  Opportunities and Constraints in the Environment of Social Movements
Chapter 4:  Causal Mechanisms of Political Change
 
Part II: The Political Outcomes of the Civil Rights Movement
Chapter 5:  The Judicial Mechanism
Chapter 6:  The Disruption Mechanism
Chapter 7:  The Public Preference Mechanism
Chapter 8:  The Political Access Mechanism
Chapter 9:  The International Politics Mechanism
 
Part III: The Political Outcomes of the Anti-nuclear Energy Movement
Chapter 10:  Designing the Study: Coping with Time, Scope, and Causal Complexity
Chapter 11:  The Anti-nuclear Energy Movement before Chernobyl
Chapter 12:  The Impact of the Chernobyl Catastrophe on Nuclear Energy
Chapter 13:  Anti-nuclear Outcomes and the Causal Mechanisms of Political Change
 
Part IV: Conclusions
Chapter 14:  What have we learned? What needs to be done?
Notes
Bibliography
Index

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