Social Movements in Politics:A Comparative Study (Perspectives In Comparative Politics) - Softcover

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As voters throughout the world have become disillusioned with politics and political parties, social movements have emerged as key actors in the promotion of political change. This innovative and important book provides the first ever comparative analysis of three very different types of social movements: the Greens in Germany; Solidarity in Poland and the Shining Path movement in Peru. Written in an accessible and engaging style, the book is divided into four sections: the first discusses in detail three traditions of social-movement theorising and the logic, biases and insights of each. The second examines the German Greens as an example of an electoral party movement and analyses the Greens historical context and factional struggles. The third part of the book takes Solidarity in Poland as an example of how movements emerge in authoritarian regimes and how their goals and strategies change as the regime becomes more liberal and democratic. Fourthly, the author explores Peru's Shining Path to gain insight into the development of social movements in non-urban and non-industrial settings. The author concludes with a juxtaposition of the three major theoretical approaches and historical findings, and proposes a fourth theoretical approach emphasising factional conflict and reconciliation within social movements.

Key features:

• provides a clear and accessible overview of theories of social movements
• uses extended case studies to assess the major theoretical approaches
• bridges the gap between introductory textbook surveys and specialist journal articles

 Social Movements in Politics will be an invaluable resource to advanced undergraduate students of social movements in either a Politics or Sociology degree and will be of value, more generally, to all students interested in the theoretical traditions and methodology of comparative politics.

Cyrus Ernesto Zirakzadeh is currently an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Connecticut and is also the Director of the University of Connecticut undergraduate Honours Program. He is a prolific writer on comparative politics and west European politics.