Politics 211

Political Movements and Revolutions

Stephen Crowley

MWF 1:30-2:20

King 235

Office: Rice 211

Office Hours: Wed. 2:30-3:30, Fri. 11-12:30, or by appointment

Phone: (office)775-8286; (home) 216/321-6564

e-mail: <fcrowley@oberlin.edu >

How are people able to act collectively to advance their interests? Why, given common interests, is this so hard to do? What role do organizations play in social and political movements? What methods are most effective for bringing about social change? What determines whether protests are aimed at reforming the existing system, or its replacement through revolution?

We will address these and other questions by examining theories of political action alongside case studies of protest movements and revolutions. Much of the focus will be on cases outside of the United States, though with the intention of deepening our understanding of our own social situation.

Course Requirements

The course will consist of both lectures and discussion. You are expected to attend each session, and complete the reading before class. Lectures will assume knowledge of the reading; discussions will be based almost entirely on the cases we have read in common.

Graded assignments will consist of two short take-home exams, a final exam, and a 10 page case study of a political movement. The paper can either be an application of a particular theory (or theories) we have discussed, or a comparison of your chosen case with another we have examined. You will be asked to hand in a one-page paper proposal and preliminary bibliography (due Oct. 13).

Grades will be determined as follows:

short exams: 2 x 15%

research paper: 30%

final exam: 30%

class participation, including attendance: 10%

Reading:

All the assigned readings will be on reserve. In addition the following books have been ordered for purchase at the Co-op:

Sidney Tarrow, Power in Movement (Cambridge University Press, 1994)

Michael Kimmel Revolution: A Sociological Interpretation (Temple University Press, 1990)

John Gaventa, Power and Powerless: Quiescence and Rebellion in an Appalachian Valley (Univ. of Illinois Press, 1982)

Randy Shaw, The Activist's Handbook (Univ. of California, 1995)

I, Rigoberta Menchu (Verso, 1984)

Class Schedule

Sept. 3: Introduction

no assigned reading

Sept. 5: What Are Political Movements?

Tarrow, Power in Movement, introduction

Kimmel, Revolution, chap. 1

Charles Tilly, From Mobilization to Revolution (Addison-Wesley, 1978), chapt. 1

Sept. 8: Resistance and Weapons of the Weak

James Scott, "Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance," in Forrest Colburn, ed., Everday Forms of Peasant Resistance (M. E. Sharpe, 1989)

Nathan Brown, "The Conspiracy of Silence and the Atomistic Political Activity of the Egyptian Peasantry, 1882-1952," in Everday Forms of Peasant Resistance

Sept. 10: Relative Deprivation

Kimmel, Revolution, chap. 3

Sept. 12: Moral Economy

James Scott, The Moral Economy of the Peasant (Yale University Press, 1976), chap. 6

Jeffrey Kopstein, "Chipping Away at the State," World Politics (January 1996)

Sept. 15-19: The Irrationality of Collective Action

Tarrow, Power in Movement, chap. 1

Dennis Chong, Collective Action and the Civil Rights Movement (University of Chicago, 1991), chapters 1-6

Sept. 22-26: Social Movement Organization and the Mobilization of Resources

Charles Tilly, From Mobilization to Revolution, chap. 3

Tarrow, Power in Movement, chap. 8

Craig Jenkins, "Resource Mobilization Theory and the Study of Social Movements," Annual Review of Sociology 9, 1983.

Piven and Cloward, Poor People's Movements (Vintage, 1979), chapter 3

Oct. 29-Oct. 3: Political Opportunity/Confronting the State

Tarrow, Power in Movement, chap. 2-5, 9

Kimmel, Revolution, chap. 4

Myra Marx Feeree, "Equality and Autonomy: Feminist Politics in the U. S. and W. Germany," in Mary Katzenstein and Carol Mueller, eds., Women's Movements of the United States and Western Europe (Temple University Press, 1987)

Mary Ruggee, "Workers' Movements and Women's Interests: The Impact of Labor-State Relations in Britain and Sweden," in Women's Movements of the United States and Western Europe

Oct. 3: First exam distributed [due Oct. 6]

Oct. 6-10: Revolution as Class Struggle

Kimmel, Revolution, chapters 2, 5

Barrington Moore, The Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy (Beacon, 1966), chaps. 3, 7-9

Oct. 13: Paper topic and bibliography due

Oct. 13-17: Revolution as State Collapse

Kimmel, Revolution, chapter 6

Theda Skocpol, States and Social Revolutions, pp. 3-43; 47-51; 81-99; 112-117; 128-140; 154-157

J. Reed, Ten Days That Shook the World, Chapters 3-4

[Oct. 20-24: Fall Break]

Oct. 27-31: Culture: From Structure to Action

Kimmel, Revolution, chapter 7

Tarrow, Power in Movement, chapter 7

David Snow and Robert Benford, "Master Frames and Cycles of Protest," in Aldon Morris and Carol Mueller, eds., Frontiers in Social Movement Theory (Yale University Press, 1992)

John Gaventa, Power and Powerlessness, chapter 1

Rick Fantasia and Eric Hirsch, "Culture in Rebellion: The Appropriation and Transformation of the Veil in the Algerian Revolution, in H. Johnston and B. Klandermans, eds., Social Movements and Culture, vol. 4.

Nov. 3-7: Revolution in the Third World

Kimmel, Revolution, chap. 8

I, Rigoberta menchu

Nov. 7: Second Exam distributed [due Nov. 10]

Nov. 10-14: A Structure/Culture Synthesis

John Gaventa, Power and Powelessness (chapters 2-6; 8-10)

Nov. 17-21: New Social Movements

Claus Offe, "New Social Movements: Challenging the Boundaries of Instituional Politics," Social Research 52 no. 4 (winter 1985)

Immanuel Wallerstein, "1968, Revolution in the World-System" in Geopolitics and Geoculture

Alberto Melucci, Nomads of the Present chapters 3, 8

Craig Calhoun, "'New Social Movements' of the Early Nineteenth Century," in Mark Traugott, ed., Repertoires and Cycles of Collective Action (Duke Univ. Press, 1995)

Randy Shaw, The Activist's Handbook, chapter 7

Nov. 24- 26: New Right, What's Left of the Left?

Tarrow, Power in Movement, chapts. 10-11

Michael Kazin, The Populist Persuasion, chaps. 9

Daniel Chirot, "After Socialism, What? The Global Implications of the Revolutions of 1989 in Eastern Europe," in Nikki Keddie, ed., Debating Revolutions (New York University Press, 1995)

Todd Gitlin, "From Universality to Difference: Notes on the Fragmentation of the Idea of the Left," in Craig Calhoun, ed., Social Theory and the Politics of Identity (Blackwell, 1994)

Charles Tilly, "Globalization Threatens Labor's Rights," and responses by Wallerstein, Zolberg, Hobsbawm, and Beneria, International Labor and Working Class History (spring 1995)

[November 28: Thanskgiving break]

Dec. 1-Dec. 10: From Theory to Practice?

Shaw, The Activist's Handbook

Final Exam

Dec. 12: Paper Due