Over the last two decades there has been a sea change in the nature of activism, with groups increasingly networking, launching campaigns, petitioning and framing their demands at the international level. This study examines this development and explores the special role of the World Social Forum.

The Chinese style of prostitution regulation

This book analyses the politics of the humanitarian disarmament community—a loose coalition of activist and advocacy groups, humanitarian agencies and diplomats—who have successfully achieved international treaties banning landmines, cluster munitions and nuclear weapons, as well as restricting the global arms trade. Two campaigns have won Nobel Peace Prizes. Disarmament has long been a dirty word in the international relations lexicon. But the success of the humanitarian disarmament agenda shows that people often choose to prohibit or limit certain violent technologies, for reasons of security, honour, ethics or humanitarianism. This edited volume showcases interdisciplinary research by scholars and practitioners seeking to understand the dynamics and impact of the new global activism on weapons. While some raise concerns that humanitarian disarmament may be piecemeal and depoliticizing, others see opportunities to breathe new life into moribund arms control policymaking. Foreword by 1997 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Jody Williams.

Sociologists and political scientists from Europe and the US explore how global issues are transforming local and national activism and the interactions between local, national, and supranational movement organizations. In addition to describing recent events, they adapt concepts and hypotheses developed in the social movement literature of the pas

Once a largely dismissed problem, street harassment is now headline news and being addressed by many international agencies and governments worldwide. This book details how a growing number of individuals, small groups, international organizations, and government agencies worldwide are working to create safe public spaces. Everyone should be able to navigate through public spaces without facing harassment or the threat of sexual assault, yet that is a right that millions of people worldwide are routinely denied. In the United States alone, 65 percent of women and 25 percent of men experience street harassment. This book taps personal stories, research data, news stories, and information about global campaigns and grassroots action in dozens of countries to trace the growing social movement to recognize, address, and prevent street harassment. The author suggests what steps need to be taken next to help stop street harassment globally and invites readers to take action and be part of the solution. The book addresses specific and prominent incidents of street harassment such as the mass sexual assaults of women at Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt; the gang rape and murder of a young woman on a bus in Delhi, India, in 2012; and the viral hidden-camera video produced by Hollaback!, an advocacy group dedicated to ending street harassment, that documents the catcalling and stalking that happens to a woman as she walks through New York City. It documents the explosion of studies, personal story sharing, grassroots campaigns, and media attention on street harassment since 2010 as well as Global Safe Cities efforts by international organizations like UN Women and ActionAid in countries on all six continents during that time period. Attention is also paid to the ongoing lack of enforcement of laws on street harassment by police and judges. The book concludes by looking forward at remedies for the problem: education among youth about street harassment and addressing issues of consent and respect.

In Activists beyond Borders, Margaret E. Keck and Kathryn Sikkink examine a type of pressure group that has been largely ignored by political analysts: networks of activists that coalesce and operate across national frontiers. Their targets may be international organizations or the policies of particular states. Historical examples of such transborder alliances include anti-slavery and woman suffrage campaigns. In the past two decades, transnational activism has had a significant impact in human rights, especially in Latin America, and advocacy networks have strongly influenced environmental politics as well. The authors also examine the emergence of an international campaign around violence against women.

Women's Activism brings together twelve innovative contributions from feminist historians from around the world. They look at how women have always found ways to challenge or fight inequalities and hierarchies as individuals, in international women's organizations, as political leaders, and in global forums such as the United Nations. This book addresses women's internationalism and struggle for their rights in the international arena; it deals with racism and colonialism in Australia, India and Europe; women's movements and political activism in South Africa, Eastern Bengal (Bangladesh), the United Kingdom, Japan and France.