EDITED VOLUME - CALL FOR PAPERS
Title:
Mapping New Social Movements in the Digital Age: Origins, Demands, and Strategies
Editors:
Ekim Arbatli (Higher School of Economics/Russia)
Lygia Costa (School of Public and Business Administration-FGV/Brazil)
Piro Rexhepi (New York University/USA)
In the last five years, we have witnessed a remarkable rise of social movements
around the globe. Perhaps more than ever before, these new social movements
share notably divergent strategies in organization and protest behavior, albeit
widely varying initial conditions. What does the Arab Spring have in common with
the Occupy Movement? How did the Gezi protests and the Brazilian demonstrations
of 2013 influence each other? Can we interpret the Ukrainian and Bosnian protests
within the same framework? What is the role of new information and
communication technologies in framing and articulating global demands for social
and economic justice? In the light of these questions, this volume seeks to bring
together a collection of essays that analyze the emergence of social movements
through a new culture of information technology which facilitates organizing
protests as well as framing social demands. The editors welcome papers that focus
on comparing communications and social media strategies employed by protestors
to understand new patterns of organizing, mobilizing and framing via the Internet.
Potential contributions can explore the transnational nature of online activist
networks by investigating how they cooperate and coordinate claims with each
other and other contemporary social movements around the world.
The editors are also interested in papers that map the transnational and global
nature of the demands of these social movements and their role in addressing
structural inequalities in the global decision-making processes. While there are a
considerable number of recent studies on these movements in the context of
national politics, very little research exists on the transnational nature of the
movements. Internationalization of local claims in social movements has been
studied from the perspective of what Keck and Sikkink (1998) famously coined as
the “boomerang effect”: the appeal of social movements to outside forces to
intervene on their behalf. New transnational cooperation, however, is not always
result oriented. Hence, it is important to analyze the transnational networks and
exchange of information among activists to understand how local claims gain global
meaning and vice-versa. Thus, the main theoretical focus of this volume is not on the
externalization of claims, but rather on what Tarrow (2006:32) calls global framing
or “the mobilization of international symbols to frame domestic issues.” We
welcome research examines both the possibilities for change as well as the limits of
the new social movements; exploring whether recent social movements are a
structural effect of neoliberal globalization or sovereign agents of change.
We are particularly interested in comparative papers focusing on multiple cases or
countries. Single-case studies can also be considered, but comparative research will
be given priority. Within this general framework, potential contributors are
encouraged to submit papers dealing with the following topics:

The origins and demands: Papers that examine the political context in
which recent social movements have emerged, including the initial issues
that sparked the protests, the first public demonstrations and the identity of
participants. Comparative research can address the following questions:
What are the similarities and contrasts between different cases? What is
being contested and claimed? What are the common demands? Who are the
activists? How do they organize and make decisions?

Organizing and protests: Papers that explore how recent social movements
employed new information and communication technologies to (i) form
national alliances, (ii) form transnational alliances, (iii) articulate and
negotiate a common framework for the protests among diverse and at times
divergent groups. What is the role of new communication technologies in
protest organization and diffusion? How do protestors become part of larger
transnational dialogue, at what point do they transcend national boundaries
and relate their political claims to similar movements abroad? Do new
information and communication technologies blur the national social and
economic boundaries around which protestors frame their demands?

Social movement politics: To what extend do new social movements
identify with established political processes? How do they negotiate class,
gender, and sexuality? What constitutes membership? How are they
organized? Are the new social movements horizontal or is there an informal
hierarchy? Who are the movement leaders? Are new social movements
“leaderless”?
Please submit a short proposal (400-500 words) and a short bio by June 15, 2014.
Abstracts should be sent to: socialmovements2014@gmail.com
Successful submissions will be notified by July 15, 2014. Deadline for full paper
submission (up to 6000 words, including references) is December 10, 2014.