Democracy Works: Joining Theory and Action to Foster Global Change / Edition 1

by Torry D. Dickinson, Terrie A. Becerra, Summer B.C. Lewis

Overview

Throughout the world, from the United States to Tanzania, Chechnya, and Sri Lanka, people increasingly work together and take actions to improve their lives, end inequality, and change global society. Action groups and movements see dialogue and learning as important ways to extend democracy and, with their inclusiveness, remake society. By putting strategy with theory, local groups and movements are able to begin making changes in civil society and institutions that allow people to begin living in new ways. Written for activists, people, and students interested in change, this book takes readers on a journey of discovery as it shows how various groups have brought theory and action together to make urban, rural, and transnational change. The case studies and explanatory articles reveal how feminist, antiracist, ecological, and peace movements reinforce each other to initiate and achieve well-placed and enduring change.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781594516023
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	10/30/2008
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Authored by Dickinson, Torry D.; Becerra, Terrie A.; Lewis, Summer B.C.

Table of Contents

Part I Examining Theory, History, Methodology, and Action; Chapter 1 Using Democracy to Promote a Historical Transition Today, Torry D. Dickinson; Chapter 2 Part Icipatory Action-Research, Inclusiveness, and Empowering Community Action at the Western Institute for Social Research, John Bilorusky, Terry Lunsford, Cynthia Lawrence; Chapter 3 Deliberative Democracy as a Foundation for Sustainable Social Change, Donna C. Schenck-Hamlin, Timothy R. Steffensmeier, William J. Schenck-Hamlin; Chapter 4 The Power of One: Democracy and the Fear of Freedom as Political Paradigm, Prabha Manuratne, Buddhika Bandara; Part II Changing the Intersecting Global Institutions of Firm, Market, State, Household, “Race,” Class, Gender/Sexuality/Age, and Global South/North; Chapter 5 Abolishing the Death Penalty, Abolishing Prisons, Mechthild Nagel; Chapter 6 Defining Nonviolence as a Language and Strategy, Susan L. Allen; Chapter 7 Women’s Civil-Societal Movements for Peace in Chechnya and Russia, Ekaterina Romanova; Chapter 8 Becoming an Activist for Global Gender Change, Christopher E. Renner; Chapter 9 “Comercio con Justicia” and Theory in Action at a Guatemalan Women’s Textile Cooperative, Summer B.C. Lewis, Kendra Staley; Chapter 10 The Corporatization of Fair Trade, Small Farmers, Alienated Consumers, and Social Movements, Rink Dickinson; Part III Rebuilding Civil Society, Reclaiming the Civil Commons; Chapter 11 Women Take the Lead: Changing Global Economics with Grassroots Cooperatives, Joyce Rothschild; Chapter 12 Education for Life at Danish Folk Schools and Highlander, Marilyn Jackson; Chapter 13 Addressing Global Water Issues Together, Terrie A. Becerra; Chapter 14 Building Feminism, Redesigning Water Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa, Leticia Nkonya; Chapter 15 “Have I Got an Ethic for You!”: Ecofeminism as the Heart of Progressive Environmental Action, Valerie Carroll; Chapter 16 The Evolution of an Agricultural-Environmental Ethic, Dan Nagengast; Chapter 17 Social Change through Sustainable Agriculture and Sustainable Consumers, Rhonda R. Janke; Chapter 18 The Small Farmers’ Movement of Cajibío, Colombia, and the Central New York Sister-City Partnership, Colleen Kattau; Part IV Changing Intersecting Institutions, Reinventing Society; Chapter 19 Praxis Reinvents Education, Democracy, and Society, Torry D. Dickinson;

Editorial Reviews

Democracy Works is important and much needed. It is the rare book that offers a combination of theory and action, grounded in local work and placed within a global context. This collection broadens both our understanding and our skills.”
—Suzanne Pharr, former Director of Highlander Center

“Fascinating analyses of how the praxis of democratic social movements really works to effectuate significant social change. Extremely intelligent and useful.”
—Immanuel Wallerstein, Yale University

From the Publisher