Coalitions across Borders: Transnational Protest and the Neoliberal Order

(Paperback)

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Coalitions across Borders shows how social movements have cooperated and conflicted as they work to develop a transnational civil society in response to perceived threats of neoliberalism - free trade, privatization, structural adjustment, and unbridled corporate power. The authors explore the processes of transnational mobilization, discussing the motivations and methods of cross-border cooperation as well as the conflicts that have affected movement abilities to promote social change. The original case studies included in this volume represent a diverse cross section of transnational movement coalitions - from various regions and nations, representing different movement interests, and addressing a range of economic injustices. Coalitions across Borders reveals the many social conditions that enable and constrain the formation of transnational civil societies and the ways in which movement actors manage conflicts as they work toward common goals. Visit our website for sample chapters!

Reviews

Bandy and Smith's book weaves together evidence from places as far apart as South Africa and the European Union, Poland and North Carolina, and Bangladesh and Brazil to examine the wide varieties of efforts to forge transnational social movement coalitions. Rich in empirical detail and innovative in theory, the book provides a concrete corrective to the sweeping generalizations that met the 1990s encounter with globalization. Students of globalization, social movements, and transnational relations will all profit from it. -- Sidney Tarrow, Cornell University, author of Power in Movement and The New Transnational Activism
The authors of Coalitions across Borders display heartening confidence that, in an increasingly connected world, activists everywhere can learn from each other and can even learn to orchestrate their actions effectively across widely varying regimes and cultures. More power to them! -- Charles Tilly, Joseph L. Buttenwieser Professor of Social Science, Columbia University
There is a healthy degree of debate and dialogue around [the] themes within the book and the resultant mix of case studies and theoretical insights makes for excellent reading. * Bookends *
Broach[es] with superb aplomb the highly complex issue of transnationalism, specifically among social movements which are already well-known for instituting chains of protest against a world system characterized by obstinate - and inequitable - neo-liberal globalisationPresent[s] top-notch scholarship: the essays, diverse as they are, cohere impeccably and synthesize inter-related themes with enviable precisiona treasure-trove for those seeking a more nuanced understanding of contemporary developments in the area of social movement research. * Political Studies Review *
Editors Bandy and Smith have combined a livley and exemplary set od cases, which represents the outlines of a transnational civil society in the making and presetn a variety of organizationla and strategic challenges. . . . The glimmer of hope and new understanding the underlies this engaging collection is that in addressing neoliberalism's many faces in the global countermovement, this collection unearths a diversity of sovereignties. * American Journal of Sociology *
Bandy and Smith's Coalitions across Borders is an exemplary contribution to the burgeoning literature on transnational movements that mobilize in protest against the inequities of the emerging international order shaped by neoliberal economic policies. The chapters combine vivid empirical materials with sophisticated interpretations of the politics of transborder movements, coalitions, and networks. This book is sure to find an enthusiastic audience among students and specialists as well as citizens concerned with the consequences for democratic politics of the vertiginous globalization of the world economy. -- William C. Smith, University of Miami, editor of Latin American Politics and Society
Coalitions Across Borders provides an important contribution to our understanding of the challenges faced by those seeking to build transnational networks and coalitions to protest and alter the neoliberal order. . . . Brandy and Smith coplement the substantive chapters with a fruitful concluding chaper, offering an assessment of the key sources of interanl conflict common to transnational coalitions, as well as the conditions and strategies that enable actors to overcome this obstacles and develop successful transnational campaigns. Their analysis is soundly grounded in both the case studeis of the volume and the larger social movement literature. Activists and academics alike will find Coalitions Across Borders a worthwhile read, as will any who seek to better understand and learn form ongoinf efforst to bring abour social change by mobilizing a 'globalization from below.' -- Wade T. Roberts, The Colorado College

Author Bio

Joe Bandy is assistant professor of sociology at Bowdoin College.
Jackie Smith is associate professor of sociology at the State University of New York, Stony Brook.