This study looks at the ongoing efforts of the Alternative Global Movement and World Social Forum to reconcile contests over political organization among three of the most prominent groups on the contemporary left - social and liberal democratic NGOs, anti-authoritarian (anarchist) social movements, and political parties.

This book explores the internal functioning and exercise of power inside a widely acclaimed transnational social organization: the alternative globalization movement. Drawing on new empirical data and perspectives from the Organizational Theory (OT), it highlights the movements' many unique features that are yet to be fully grasped within theoretical debates: ideological flexibility, emphasis on networking, informal structure and refusal to accept order from political parties. The book asserts that organizational power is a real issue not only within economic enterprises or formal political and labour organizations but also within informal transnational networks and coalition groups seeking to vehicle utopian projects.

'Don't Owe! Won't Pay!', 'Get Rid of them All!', 'No Patents on Life!', 'Food Sovereignty', 'Another World is Possible!' ... The struggles against corporate power and the institutions of globalization grow more courageous and confident year by year. Millions of people have already become active in rejecting corporate globalization and developing alternatives to it. Millions more know that something is terribly wrong and are ready to begin taking action. This book is for them. Amory Starr is author of Naming the Enemy, a book that foresaw the emergent anti-globalization network nearly a decade ago. Here she provides, in concise and engaging style and with activist insight: A history of the movements' emergence. An outline of their analyses and aims. A digest of the ongoing controversies and dilemmas. An inspiring compendium of popular tactics.

Considering the rise of global political instability and subsequent importance of new social movements, this cutting edge book examines the relationship between the alter-globalization movement and political power in Italy, Spain, and Greece. It argues that not only is the movement anti-political, but that it operates within an apolitical social milieu, as a ritualized holding pattern for middle class youths that find themselves uncomfortably placed between a receding state structure on the one hand, and a rising informal economy on the other. Its ritual liminality allows adherents to act revolutionary while assuring that their middle class privileges remain intact. The author considers the social ramifications of the movement at a time when Europe finds itself at a political and economic crossroads, and offers specific and timely case studies from the three southern European countries.

Explains the character of contemporary protest politics through a micro-mobilization analysis of participation in street demonstrations.

Protest and Punishment seeks to advance current debates and discussions on the criminalization of dissent as a common feature of neo-liberal governance in the current period of capitalist globalization. Demands for greater democratization and equality have been met by conservative calls for a "moderation of democracy" and the use of police to stifle growing social movements. Part of that response has been the reconstruction of police forces and policing to maintain public order while limiting popular mobilization. The period of alternative globalization protests has seen a number of dramatic clashes between police and protesters. The protests against the WTO in Seattle in November 1999 gained the nickname "The Battle in Seattle." Demonstrations in Quebec City (2001), Genoa (2001), Miami (2003) and London (2009) have seen running street battles between demonstrators and police. Social justice activists who confront and contest neo-liberal governments and global capital have been subjected to tear gas attacks, rubber bullets and concussion grenades, surveillance, illegal searches and seizures, detention, and beatings. The Genoa and London protests also saw the death of civilians due to police actions. For some critics, state violence against demonstrators or political opponents is viewed as an act of state terrorism, designed to strike fear into potential protesters, dissidents or even observers. Such aggressive policing and state violence is intended to send a message to future activists that political demonstrations will not be tolerated. The works collected in Protest and Punishment examine developments in the repression of resistance in the neo-liberal context. They examine shifts and transformations in state approaches to dissent from early developments in the last decades of the twentieth century through to the present period of capitalist globalization in the twenty-first century. Through a discussion of a variety of protests and movements in different national contexts (Canada, Netherlands, US, UK) this collection offers a unique perspective on key practices and policies that mark neoliberal governance and changing visions of citizenship and the accompanying shifts in economic and cultural structures in the current age. The works in this collection are based on contributions from engaged scholars, most of whom have direct firsthand experience in the protests that they analyze. The collection offers insights into the complex struggles that underpin the present period through an extensive and diverse examination of protests and punishment in the global era. It provides important resources for understanding the character of community resistance and repression by governments in the contemporary period.

The events around the WTO conference in Seattle focused attention on the rise of social movements opposing globalisation and the power of corporations. This work is the first systematic analysis of these diverse, at present uncoordinated, movements. They are a new phenomenon that has as yet received scant media or scholarly attention. But it is likely to assume much greater political prominence as the globalised economy dominated by giant corporations fails to deliver on jobs, social justice, development and th environment. The dialectic between public opposition and the corporate sector's response is likely to shape how our economic institutions will change in the coming years.