Biblio

Focuses on the contribution to the peace process in the lead-up to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement of three ecumenical Christian peace centres in Northern Ireland – the Corrymeela Community, the Christian Renewal Centre, and the Columbanus Community. The author, in contrast to the majority of commentators, identifies religious differences as the main cause of the conflict, though he argues that religion can be ‘both cause of and cure for social conflict’.

Examines activist lesbian and gay organizations in relation to post-1968 feminism, gay ‘ghettoes’ and the gay press, and explores the impact of AIDS and revival of militancy in the 1990s. Notes influence of American movement, but also stresses differences.

McAdam, a leading social movement theorist, has written widely on various aspects and interpretations of the Civil Rights Movement, including [view:biblio_individual_item_for_inline_reference=notlisted=93802]. His influential article [view:biblio_individual_item_for_inline_reference=notlisted=93801] (reprinted in [view:biblio_individual_item_for_inline_reference=attachment=9970]) highlights how innovative tactics of mass action broke through institutionalised powerlessness.

Sympathetic coverage of a wide range of campaigns in Britain – Greenham Common, Trident Ploughshares, the arms trade, British troops in Northern Ireland, US bases, the ‘peace tax’, and opposition to the (first) Gulf War.

Based on interviews with more than 1,000 participants in the 1996-97 protests.

See especially pp. 263-318 on formation of united opposition and mass protests from March 1996 to February 1997. Account goes up to 1998.

Accounts of peace process from perspectives of various parties involved, including several members of the then recently formed Northern Ireland Executive. Clem McCartney writes on ‘The Role of Civil Society’ and Monica McWilliams and Kate Fearon of the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition on ‘Problems of Implementation’.

Discusses 1999 student demonstrations against the NATO bombing of Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, comparing them with earlier 1919 and June 1989 protests. Argues that, despite official support and encouragement, the 1999 protests did reflect significant degree of student autonomy and included allusion to 1989.

Examines the impact of violence on popular movements and how they adapted.

Well-documented examination of the role of transnational civil movements in contributing to arms control and the ending of the Cold War. Includes assessment of the Pugwash Conference which brought together scientists from East and West, and also the wider anti-war movement.

Account by a key organizer of the British Anti-Apartheid Movement.

This paper describes the Middle East Nuclear Weapons Free Zone’s proposal, originally advanced by Iran and Egypt in 1974, as well as the extension of the concept in 1990 to include all weapons of mass destruction.

See also: [view:biblio_individual_item_for_inline_reference=notlisted=50942].

Christian Churches have been important in quite a few African movements. This book analyses different churches – Catholic, Protestant (mainstream), Evangelical, Pentecostal and Independent – and their beliefs, and also assesses their role in the emerging of civil society. Case studies of four countries: Ghana, Uganda, Zambia and Cameroon.

The article examines the linkage between activists concerned about Australia supplying uranium for US and British nuclear weapon programmes, and its close military alliance with the US, and the environmental groups focusing on the dangers of civilian nuclear energy.  Green argues that resistance to nuclear energy was weak and isolated before the 1970s, but gained significant, nationally coordinated, support in 1976-77, which swung the Labor Party against uranium mining and exports. The movement highlighted the dangers of uranium mining for Aborigines and workers in the mines, as well as the environmental impact; and it opposed Australia's role in the cold war nuclear confrontation (having US bases and allowing US nuclear warships to visit Australian harbours). It also publicized the secret history of the health impact of British nuclear testing in Australian deserts on Aboriginal people. However, the movement lost momentum in the 1980s and failed to prevent the Labor Party, when in government from 1983, abandoning its strong opposition to uranium mining.

Notes that Bulgaria maintained a stable Soviet-style system until the collapse of the Soviet Union, but has made a surprisingly effective transition to parliamentary government and a market economy.