Comparative uprisings: understanding contemporary mass social unrest
Prerequisiti
This course is optional and there are no special requirements for attending.
Programma
Episodes of massive social unrest, also called uprisings, popular revolts, and rebellions, are recurrent and increasingly frequent events in contemporary societies. The phenomenon can be seen in consolidated, advanced democracies of the global north, as well as in younger democracies and developing economies of the global south. Quantitative studies have shown an increase in the frequency of major protests on a global scale, in recent decades (Carothers & Wong, 2020; Carothers & Youngs, 2015). A study of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) and the Initiative for Policy Dialogue concluded that we are living through a period in history similar to the years around 1848, 1917 or 1968 “when large numbers of people rebelled against the way things were, demanding change” (Ortiz et al., 2021, p. 13). Examples of massive social unrest include the gilets jaunes in France (2018), the indignados movement in Spain (2011), and the anti-corruption protests in Romania (2018), and the so-called ‘social outbreaks’ in Chile (2019), Perú and Colombia (2019-2020). In the Arab region, there was the wave of uprisings at the beginning of the previous decade, known as the Arab Spring, as well as the revolt in Lebanon in 2019. This course uses the emerging literature exploring the causes, dynamics, actors and outcomes of these episodes, and tracks the theoretical debates and models that have been used to understand them.
In this course, we dig into these episodes to explore some controversies crossing the fields of social movements studies, comparative politics, peace studies and revolutions scholarship. By focusing on episodes of massive social unrest we can gain a vantage point to examine a major assumption of contentious politics studies: that mobilizations from below produce change, promote democracy and advance the cause of equality. Similarly, the social movements literature has long debated whether peaceful protests or disruptive and violent movements are more effective in bringing about social change (Chenoweth & Schock, 2015; Gamson, 1975; Fox Piven 2016). In studying mass social unrest across various regions, the course engages in debates about different temporalities (timing, tempo, acceleration), the role of spontaneity, coalition building, authoritarian backslash, democratic erosion, state building, legitimacy, among other issues.
Obiettivi formativi
After taking this course, students will be able to:
- Understand the contexts, causes, dynamics, and implications of episodes of mass social unrest across various geographies (Europe, North America, Middle East, etc.).
- Familiarize themselves with the main authors, topics, and debates among scholars of revolutions and uprisings.
- Identify similarities and differences between Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East, and within these geographical areas, in terms of the main characteristics of episodes of mass social unrest.
- Distinguish between various forms of mass social unrest, particularly between revolutions, uprisings, revolts, and social movements.
- Use the concepts and authors discussed in the course creatively and originally for their own research purposes.
Riferimenti bibliografici
-Ahmed, A. (2013). The Existential Threat: Varieties of Socialism and the Origins of Electoral Systems in Early Democracies. Studies in Comparative International Development, 48(2), 141–171.
-Acemoglu, D., & Robinson, J. A. (2006). Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy. Cambridge University Press.
-Auyero, J. (2006). The Political Makings of the 2001 Lootings in Argentina. Journal of Latin American Studies, 38(2), 241–265.
-Berman, C. E., Clarke, K., & Majed, R. (2023). Theorizing revolution in democracies: Evidence from the 2019 uprisings in Lebanon and Iraq (Working Paper 2023/51). WIDER Working Paper.
-Cheng, E. W. (2019). Spontaneity and Civil Resistance: A Counter Frame of the Umbrella Movement. In E. W. Cheng & N. Ma (Eds.), Umbrella Movement: Civil Resistance and Contentious Space in Hong Kong (pp. 51–76). Amsterdam University Press.
-Cheng, E. W., Lee, F. L. F., Yuen, S., & Tang, G. (2022). Total Mobilization from Below: Hong Kong’s Freedom Summer. The China Quarterly, 251, 629–659.
-Chenoweth, E., & Stephan, M. J. (2011). Why civil resistance works: The strategic logic of nonviolent conflict. Columbia University Press.
-Clarke, K. (2014). Unexpected Brokers of Mobilization: Contingency and Networks in the 2011 Egyptian Uprising. Comparative Politics, 46(4), 379–397.
-Collins, R. (2022). Explosive Conflict: Time-Dynamics of Violence. Routledge.
-Goldstone, J. A., Grinin, L., & Korotayev, A. V. (2022). Handbook of Revolutions in the 21st Century. The New Waves of Revolutions, and the Causes and Effects of Disruptive Political Change. Springer.
-Goodwin, J. (2011). Why we were surprised (again) by the Arab Spring. Swiss Political Science Review, 17(4), 452–456.
-Guzmán-Concha, C. (2019, November 27). Seven steps to insurrection: How the people of Chile went from influence to power | LSE Latin America and Caribbean. LSE Latin America and Caribbean Blog. https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/latamcaribbean/2019/11/27/seven-steps-to-insurrection-how-the-people-of-chile-went-from-influence-to-power/
-Guzmán-Concha, C. (2022). Power, Legitimacy and Institutions in the October 2019 Uprising in Chile. Latin American Perspectives.
-Hobsbawm, Eric. Primitive Rebels: Studies in Archaic Forms of Social Movement in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1978.
-Kadivar, M. A., & Caren, N. (2016). Disruptive Democratization: Contentious Events and Liberalizing Outcomes Globally, 1990–2004. Social Forces, 94(3), 975–996.
-LaGraffe, D. (2012). The Youth Bulge in Egypt: An Intersection of Demographics, Security, and the Arab Spring. Journal of Strategic Security, 5(2), 65–80.
-Leemann, L., & Mares, I. (2014). The Adoption of Proportional Representation. The Journal of Politics, 76(2), 461–478.
-Rasmussen, M. B., & Knutsen, C. H. (2022). Reforming to Survive: The Bolshevik Origins of Social Policies. Cambridge University Press.
-Rudé, G. F. E. (1981). The Crowd in History: A Study of Popular Disturbances in France and England, 1730-1848. Lawrence and Wishart
-Thompson, E. P. (1971). The Moral Economy of the English Crowd in the Eighteenth Century. Past & Present, 50, 76–136.
-Tilly, C. (1983). Speaking Your Mind Without Elections, Surveys, or Social Movements. The Public Opinion Quarterly, 47(4), 461–478.
-Tilly, C. (2003). The Politics of Collective Violence. Cambridge University Press.
-Yom, S. (2015). The Arab Spring: One Region, Several Puzzles, and Many Explanations. Government and Opposition, 50(4), 682–704