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"The concepts of power and democracy have been extensively studied at global, national and local levels and within institutions including states, international organizations and political parties. However, the interplay of those concepts within social movements is given far less attention. Studies have so far mainly focused on protest activities rather than the internal practices of deliberation and democratic decision-making. Meeting Democracy presents empirical research which examines in detail how power is distributed and how consensus is reached in twelve Global Justice Movement groups, with detailed observations of how they operate in France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Switzerland and the UK. Written by leading political scientists and sociologists, this work contributes significantly to the wider literature on power and deliberative democracy within political science and sociology"--
List of contents
1. Power and democracy in social movements: an introduction Donatella della Porta and Dieter Rucht; 2. A methodology for studying democracy and power in group meetings Christoph Haug, Dieter Rucht and Simon Teune; 3. Types and patterns of intragroup controversies Dieter Rucht; 4. Patterns of participation Clare Saunders and Christopher Rootes; 5. Power and arguments in global justice movement settings Massimiliano Andretta; 6. Emotions in movement Donatella della Porta and Marco Giugni; 7. Quality of deliberation: a multilevel analysis Marco Giugni and Alessandro Nai; 8. Structurelessness: an evil or an asset? A case study Christoph Haug and Dieter Rucht; 9. Power and democracy: concluding remarks Donatella della Porta and Dieter Rucht; Appendices.
About the author
Donatella Della Porta is Professor of Sociology in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the European University Institute. Her main fields of research are social movements, the policing of public order, participatory democracy and political corruption. Her previous publications include Approaches and Methodologies in the Social Sciences (2008).Dieter Rucht is a Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the Free University of Berlin. Until 2011 he was co-chair of the research group 'Civil Society, Citizenship and Political Mobilization in Europe' at the Social Science Centre (WZB), Berlin. His main fields of research are social movements and political protest, political participation, sociology of the public sphere and the sociology of conflict.
