The book examines the highly dynamic communication ecology of recent contentious politics and its expanding digital footprint. First, it looks at the attainment of democratic citizenship through practice as street protests attract substantial numbers of followers who narrate their involvement or reflect on the claims and the implications of collective action on social media. Secondly, it considers the ramifications for contemporary democracy arising from the large-scale uptake of social media by variegated protest networks, which no longer pivot on the coordination capacity of bureaucratic movement organizations. The book ties these aspects together to propose that contentious politics can be a fertile ground for progressive civic participation.

Scholars consider ways in which the social movement has changed as a politics and how it changes the societies in which it occurs. This volume contains revealing perspectives on the effectiveness of social protest.

Based upon a three-year multi-disciplinary international research project, Political and Civic Participation examines the interplay of factors affecting civic and political engagement and participation across different generations, nations and ethnic groups, and the shifting variety of forms that participation can take. The book draws upon an extensive body of data to answer the following key questions: Why do many citizens fail to vote in elections? Why are young people turning increasingly to street demonstrations, charitable activities, consumer activism and social media to express their political and civic views? What are the barriers which hinder political participation by women, ethnic minorities and migrants? How can greater levels of engagement with public issues be encouraged among all citizens? Together, the chapters in this volume provide a comprehensive overview of current understandings of the factors and processes which influence citizens’ patterns of political and civic engagement. They also present a set of evidence-based recommendations for policy, practice and intervention that can be used by political and civil society actors to enhance levels of engagement, particularly among youth, women, ethnic minorities and migrants. Political and Civic Participation provides an invaluable resource for all those who are concerned with citizens’ levels of engagement, including: researchers and academics across the social sciences; politicians and political institutions; media professionals; educational professionals and schools; youth workers and education NGOs; and leaders of ethnic minority and migrant organizations and communities.

One of the signal events in global politics in the last decade has been the transformation of political and civic activism. Not only is the new activism qualitatively different in character from what it was in 2000; its intensity and frequency have dramatically increased. Activists are developing a new type of civic movement, applying innovative forms of direct action against governments and often operating without leaders or even any well-defined set of aims. In Civic Activism Unleashed, Carnegie scholar Richard Youngs examines the changing shape of contemporary civic activism. He shows how the emerging civic activism has important implications for the whole concept of civil society-and for the relationship between citizens, political institutions, and states. Youngs contends that the rise and spread of these new forms of direct-action civic activism, and the way the trend has driven the dramatic events in global politics in recent years, requires us to update our understanding of what civil society actually is and which types of organizations are in its vanguard. He further looks at the global impact of recent civic activism and offers a set of variables to help explain cases of success and failure. Youngs' larger aim is to explore in depth the new forms of civic activism that are emerging around the world and assess how they differ from more established practices of civil society activity. Theoretically ambitious and global in scope, Civic Activism Unleashed forces us to reconsider the nature of contemporary social and civic activism and how it is reshaping contentious politics in countries across the world.

Creating transparency between government and citizens through outreach and engagement initiatives is critical to promoting community development and is also an essential part of a democratic society. This can be achieved through a number of methods including public policy, urban development, artistic endeavors, and digital platforms. Civic Engagement and Politics: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications is a vital reference source that examines civic engagement practices in social, political, and non-political contexts. As the world is now undergoing a transformation, interdisciplinary collaboration, participation, community-based participatory research, partnerships, and co-creation have become more common than focused domains. Highlighting a range of topics such as social media and politics, civic activism, and public administration, this multi-volume book is geared toward government officials, leaders, practitioners, policymakers, academicians, and researchers interested in active citizen participation and politics.

In searching for answers as to why young people differ vastly from their parents and grandparents when it comes to turning out the vote, A New Engagement challenges the conventional wisdom that today's youth is plagued by a severe case of political apathy. In order to understand the current nature of citizen engagement, it is critical to separate political from civic engagement. Using the results from an original set of surveys and the authors' own primary research, they conclude that while older citizens participate by voting, young people engage by volunteering and being active in their communities.

Based on mixed-methods research and ethnographic fieldwork at various sites in Italy, this book examines the relationship between expertise and activism in grassroots environmentalism. Presenting interviews with citizens, activists and experts, it considers activism surrounding infrastructure in urban areas, in connection with water management, transport, tour- ism and waste disposal. Through comparisons between different political environments, the author analyses the ways in which citizens, political activists and technical experts participate in using expertise, shedding light on the effects of this on the structure and composition of social movements, as well as the implications for the mechanisms of participation and the formation of alliances. Bridging the sociology of expertise and contentious politics, this study of the relationship between contentious expertise and democratic accountability shows how conflict transforms, rather than inhibits, expertise production into a ‘contentious politics by other means’. As such, it will appeal to social scientists with interests in social movements, environmental sociology, science and technology studies, and the sociology of knowledge.