Tales of Nationalism: Catalonia, 1939-1979

Author(s): Hank Johnston

Rutgers University Press, New Jersery, 1991, pp. 261

Much-cited in the social movement literature on ‘framing’, Johnston analyses the contribution of resistant sub-cultures under Francoism to the eventual resurgence of Catalan opposition.

Crises of the Republic

Author(s): Hannah Arendt

Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York, 1972

The essay ‘Civil Disobedience’ discusses consent and the right to dissent in the context of the US Civil Rights Movement and Vietnam anti-war protests. It distinguishes between disobedience motivated by citizenship responsibility and that motivated primarily by individual conscience. The essay ‘On Violence’, examines the nature of power and violence (with examples from contemporary movements and politics), and argues that power (as she defines it) is not only distinct from violence but its opposite.

On Revolution

Author(s): Hannah Arendt

Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1973

Originally published: 1963

Explores the concept and experience of revolution, drawing on the history of the American and French revolutions in particular, but also Russia, and develops the theme of the ‘lost treasure’ of revolutionary experience, which is the upsurge of creative and organisational energy in forms of direct democracy, and the conflict between popular political cooperation and the centralising tendencies of political parties.

The Return of Conscription?

Author(s): Hannah Brock

In: War Resisters' International, 2018

The author, a full time worker at War Resisters' International with a focus on support for conscientious objectors to military service, discusses whether the previous trend towards the abolition of conscription around the world is being reversed. She notes that it has been reintroduced in Ukraine, Georgia, Lithuania and Kuwait (after a short period when it was not in force) and introduced for the first time by Qatar and the United Arab Emirates; in total over 100 states practice, responding with varying degrees of harshness to objectors. Most states impose conscription for men, but both Norway and Sweden (where it h ad been reintroduced) extend it to women. The article discusses the varying regional security situations, which influence states to use conscription and carrying rounds for exemption.

Available online at:

https://wri-irg.org/en/story/2018/return-conscription

The Return of Conscription?

Author(s): Hannah Brock

War Resisters' International2018

Brock assesses the changing context of her work for War Resisters' International since she began in 2012, when conscription had ended or been suspended in 22 states. She notes how regional fears of Russian aggression have influenced the reintroduction of conscription in former Soviet states (Ukraine, Georgia and Lithuania) and in Western Europe, where Sweden had reintroduced it. She also comments on Gulf States introducing or reintroducing conscription (as in Kuwait). The extension of conscription to women in both Norway and Sweden, opposed by some feminists but supported by women politicians, raises wider questions, which Brock considers, about the extent of social diversity in the armed forces. The article is extensively annotated, including references to protests against conscription and against the major military exercise 'Aurora' mounted by neutral Sweden in 2017, which incorporated NATO troops. 

Available online at:

https://wri-irg.org/en/story/2018/return-conscription

The Iceland Experiment (2009-2013): A Participatory Approach to Constitutional Reform

Author(s): Hannah Fillmore-Patrick

In: Democratization Policy Council Policy Note, No New Series 02, 2013, pp. 21

Examines the financial collapse and the popular protests in ‘the Kitchenware Revolution’ (which included banging pots and pans), which led to widespread popular involvement in changing the constitution to prevent a future financial collapse and betrayal of trust.

Available online as PDF at:

http://dpc.djikic.com/uimages/pdf/dpc%20policy%20note%202_%20the%20iceland%20experiment.pdf

“Sister Robert, sister John”: Enhancing women’s voices and gendered membership of the Uganda Women Parliamentary Association

Author(s): Hannah Muzee, and Joyce B. Mbongo Épse Endeley

In: Agenda, Vol 33, No 2, 2019, pp. 22-31

This article focuses primarily on the Ugandan Women’s Parliamentary Association (UWOPA) as a key part of the wider women’s movement in Uganda. It considers how women members of parliament were able to give more prominence to women’s concerns in policy debates, but also how they were strengthened, when pressing for gender-sensitive laws and policies, by women’s collective backing. The findings also show that success in achieving laws such as Domestic Violence Act and Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation was due to collaborating with male legislators, some of whom joined UWOPA.

Civil Resistance

Author(s): Maciej J. Bartkowski, and Hardy Merriman

In: in Patrick James (ed.) Oxford Bibliographies in International Relations, pp. 34ff

Annotated bibliography, with an emphasis on recently published books and articles, compiled by two researchers in the field of nonviolent resistance, organised under useful analytical subheads.  These include: 'Power and People: The Consent-Based View of Political Power', 'Structure, Agency and Civil Resistance Movements',  'Repression, Backfire and Defections', 'External Actors, Civil Resistance and International Law' 'Civil Resistance against Extreme Violence and Violent Nonstate Actors' and Civilian-Based Defense against Foreign Invasion and Coups' d 'Etat'. Ends with a list of multimedia resources.

Available online at https://www.nonviolent-conflict.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Civil-Resistance-Bartkowski-Merriman-2016.pdf

Nonviolent Struggle

Author(s): Stephen Zunes, Hardy Merriman, and Maria Stephan

In: in Denemark, Robert A., The International Studies Encyclopedia, pp. 31-31

Analytical article with extensive references to literature on nonviolent struggle, examining definitions and strategy of nonviolent action, and covering a wide range of relevant topics. These include the Gandhian legacy, comparison of violent and nonviolent struggles, theories of power and dependency relationships, backfire and  security force defections, nonviolent third party intervention, democratization, transnational networks, and collections of case studies and data bases. 

Republished by Oxford Research Encyclopedia of International Studies, International Studies Association and Oxford University Press.

See also: Steinweg, Reiner with Saskia Thorbecke,  Gewaltfreie Aktion, Ziviler Ungehorsam, Sociale Vertedigung  (Nonviolent Action, Civil Disobedience, Social Defence), 2011, online.  It is primarily a bibliography of German writings, but includes some titles in English and other languages.  For more detail on contents and online link see: Vol.2. Addendum 2. German Titles.

The secret to peace in the Middle East … Feminism plays a big role

Author(s): Harmony Birch

In: Entity, 2017

In this interview, Ibrahim AlHusseini - entrepreneur, documentary producer, and philanthropist - discusses the connection between renewable energy, democracy in the Middle East and feminism. It also elucidates why feminism is important to Middle Eastern men and the factors that contribute to a larger participation of men in women’s struggles for equality.

Available online at:

https://www.entitymag.com/middle-east-women-peace-feminism/

Democracy of Chameleons: Politics and Culture in the New Malawi

Author(s): Harri Englund

Nordic Africa Institute, Uppsala, 2002, pp. 208 pb

This book explores how far the ending of one-man rule in 1994 had achieved wider economic, social and cultural changes and explores the continuing problems such as political intolerance and hate speech.  The contributors, mostly from Malawi, criticize both 'chameleon' political leaders and aid donors for supporting superficial democratization.

Chinese feminism beyond borders: past, present and future

Author(s): Harriet Evans

In: WAGIC – Women and Gender in China, 2017

Professor of Chinese Studies Harriet Evans analyses the development of feminist activism in comparison with feminism in the UK. Drawing on the idea of sexual and gender rights, she also makes a comparison with the LGBTQ community and its global organisational activism since the 1990s.

Available online at:

https://www.wagic.org/blank-2/2017/08/24/chinesefeminismbeyondborders

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