Direct action and democracy today - April Carter

More and more people around the world are protesting to defendtheir rights, resist injustice or oppose undemocratic rule. In thisbook, April Carter debates the nature and meaning of such protestand discusses the relationship between direct action and people'sclaims for greater democratic control, not only against repressiveregimes but also in liberal parliamentary states.





The book begins by looking at non-violent direct action inhistorical context, tracing its evolution from the end of theSecond World War to the present day. It examines the associationbetween direct action and the social movements of recent decadesand charts its role in the new global movement against neo-liberaleconomic policies. The second part of the book relates directaction to political theory to ascertain how it fits with theoriesof liberal, republican and deliberative democracy. It goes on toconsider socialist and cosmopolitan approaches to democracy andpopular resistance and concludes by looking at the implications ofprotest politics for current democratic thinking and contemporaryworld events.





This book will be a valuable resource for students and scholars ofinternational politics and political theory.