Globalization from Below

Transnational Activists and Protest Networks

2006
Authors:

Donatella della Porta, Massimiliano Andretta, Lorenzo Mosca, and Herbert Reiter

An in-depth look at the Genoa G8 summit and the European Social Forum, from the protesters’s point of view

Presenting the first systematic empirical research on the global justice movement, Globalization from Below analyzes a movement from the viewpoints of the activists, organizers, and demonstrators themselves. The authors traveled to Genoa with anti-G8 protesters and collected data from more than 800 participants. They examine the interactions between challengers and elites, and discuss how new models of activism fit into current social movement work.

The book represents a thorough and thoughtful account about how this movement has operated, and how it reflects well-established theoretical thinking about social movements. It is indisputable that the global movement is one of the most important political developments of our time. Anyone who studies social movements, protest, democracy, and governance cannot afford to be uninformed about his movement. Thus, the empirical account of these important protest sequences, which helped to proved the fundamental definition, identity, and agenda for this movement, is invaluable in its own right. Furthermore, the creative use of data to examine the development and adoption of frames is a worthy example for others, and the elaboration of ideas about protest control is informative and stimulating.

American Journal of Sociology

When violence broke out at the demonstrations surrounding the 2001 G8 summit in Genoa, Italy, the authors of this book were there. The protests proved to be a critical moment in the global justice movement.

Presenting the first systematic empirical research on the global justice movement, Globalization from Below analyzes a movement from the viewpoints of the activists, organizers, and demonstrators themselves. The authors traveled to Genoa with anti-G8 protesters and collected data from more than 800 participants. A year later, they surveyed 2,400 activists at the European Social Forum in Florence. To understand how this cycle of global protest emerged, they examine the interactions between challengers and elites, and discuss how these new models of activism fit into current social movement work.

Globalization from Below places the protests within larger debates, revealing and investigating the forces that led to a clash between demonstrators and the Italian government, which responded with violence.

Donatella della Porta is professor of political science at the European University Institute.

Massimiliano Andretta is a researcher in political science and sociology at the European University Institute.

Lorenzo Mosca is a researcher in political science and sociology at the European University Institute.

Herbert Reiter is a researcher in history at the European University Institute.

The book represents a thorough and thoughtful account about how this movement has operated, and how it reflects well-established theoretical thinking about social movements. It is indisputable that the global movement is one of the most important political developments of our time. Anyone who studies social movements, protest, democracy, and governance cannot afford to be uninformed about his movement. Thus, the empirical account of these important protest sequences, which helped to proved the fundamental definition, identity, and agenda for this movement, is invaluable in its own right. Furthermore, the creative use of data to examine the development and adoption of frames is a worthy example for others, and the elaboration of ideas about protest control is informative and stimulating.

American Journal of Sociology

Contents

Acknowledgments
Abbreviations

1. Globalization and Social Movements
2. The Development of a Global Movement: Network Strategies, Democracy, Participation
3. Master Frame, Activists’ Ideas, and Collective Identity
4. Global-Net for Global Movements? A Network of Networks for a Movement of Movements
5. Media-Conscious and Nonviolent? Protest Repertoires
6. Transnational Protest and Public Order
7. Politics, Antipolitics, and Other Politics: Democracy and the Movement for Globalization from Below
8. The Global Movement and Democracy

Notes
Bibliography

Index