Contentious Europeans: Protest and Politics in an Integrating Europe / Edition 1

by Doug Imig, Sidney Tarrow Cornell University, author of Power in Movement and The New Transnational A, Evelyn Bush, Virginie Guiraudon, Barbara Helfferisch

Overview

Is the process of European integration shifting the targets of social movements from the national arena to the European Union level? Does the EU remain isolated from the reach of national democratic politics? Or are social movements responding to the transnational issues posed by the European Union, but continuing to do so by treading the traditional pathways of nation-specific contentious politics? Addressing these key but hitherto unexplored questions, this groundbreaking volume explores how European citizens are responding to the growing policymaking power of the EU. The contributors argue that the emergence of a supranational realm of European government offers new opportunities and constraints for domestic social actors. In this new transnational realm, groups such as environmentalists, students, and trade unionists can not only undertake traditional domestic forms of contentious action, but also link together across national borders. At the same time, the volume cautions against rushing to herald a new era of transnational mobilization, as significant barriers remain to launching contentious action in the transnational realm, national governments continue to play a primary role in policymaking before the EU, and tried-and-true routines of collective action and institutions attach citizens to their national political systems. At the heart of the book is a newly developed theoretical framework, which is rigorously tested against the evidence offered by the editors' longitudinal and cross-national database on contentious political action, as well as by a series of sector-specific case studies. The combination of theory and original research will make this an important reference for scholars as well as a valuable supplement in courses on comparative politics, Western Europe, and social movements.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780742500846
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	07/17/2001
Series:	Governance in Europe Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 8.94(h) x 0.94(d)

About the Author

Doug Imig is associate professor of political science at the University of Memphis. Sidney Tarrow is Maxwell Upson Professor of Government and Sociology at Cornell University.

Table of Contents

Part 1 Part I: Studying a Moving Target: Theory and Data On European Contention Chapter 2 Studying Contention in an Emerging Polity Chapter 3 Mapping the Europeanization of Contention: Evidence from a Quantitative Data Analysis Part 4 Part II: European Policies and National Responses Chapter 5 Trade Union Organizing at the European Level: The Dilemma of Borrowed Resources Chapter 6 Framing Contention: Dutch and Spanish Farmers Confront the EU Chapter 7 European Farmers and Their Protests Part 8 Part III: Lobbies or Movements? Chapter 9 Lobbying or Protest? Strategies to Influence EU Environmental Policies Chapter 10 Multilevel Action Coordination in European Contentious Politics: The European Women's Lobby Chapter 11 Weak Weapons of the Weak? Transnational Mobilization around Migration Part 12 Part IV: The Formation of European Actors Chapter 13 Media Construction in the Dynamics of Euro-protest Chapter 14 The European Conflict over Genetically-Engineered Crops, 1995-97 Part 15 Part V: Comparisons and Conclusions Chapter 16 Contentious Politics in a Composite Polity

Editorial Reviews

Imig and Tarrow's latest publication is a pioneering work in the field of social movements. It introduces a European dimension to contentious politics, an brings together in one analysis various groups organized around a wide range of issues.

E-Extreme

Imig and Tarrow have assembled a group of scholars who are at the cutting edge of new methodologies and current political and social transformations. . . . Rich and provocative research. . . . Strongly recommended.

Choice Reviews

Thoughtful and open-minded, lucid and carefully organized…. It is at the cutting edge of debate about both the European Union and social movements…. This is research at its best, and the book deserves wide readership.

Contemporary Sociology - John A. Hall

This is an attractive and valuable collection of scholarship. This is research at its best, and the book deserves wide readership.

American Journal of Sociology

As a study that contributes in multiple ways to two important topics of research, the authors should be praised for their methodological approach as well as for their ability to present a clear typology of social movements' activity within the EU context. All the chapters in the book contribute to shift the focus of analysis from a merely cross-border approach, to the potential for more comprehensive levels of action.

European Political Science

An important work [that] firmly establishes the relationship between social movement literature and European integration studies. . . . Contentious Europeans is rich in detail and judicious in conclusions, and the case studies are first-rate in terms of information and evaluation.

Race Relations Abstracts - Robert Ladrech

Imig and Tarrow have assembled a group of scholars who are at the cutting edge of new methodologies and current political and social transformations.. .. Rich and provocative research.. .. Strongly recommended.

Choice

An important work [that] firmly establishes the relationship between social movement literature and European integration studies. . . . Contentious Europeans is rich in detail and judicious in conclusions, and the case studies are first-rate in terms of information and evaluation.--Robert Ladrech "Race Relations Abstracts "

Thoughtful and open-minded, lucid and carefully organized.... It is at the cutting edge of debate about both the European Union and social movements.... This is research at its best, and the book deserves wide readership.--John A. Hall, McGill University "Contemporary Sociology "

Imig and Tarrow have assembled a group of scholars who are at the cutting edge of new methodologies and current political and social transformations. . . . Rich and provocative research. . . . Strongly recommended.--CHOICE

From the Publisher

Imig and Tarrow have assembled a group of scholars who are at the cutting edge of new methodologies and current political and social transformations.. .. Rich and provocative research.. .. Strongly recommended.

CHOICE

As a study that contributes in multiple ways to two important topics of research, the authors should be praised for their methodological approach as well as for their ability to present a clear typology of social movements' activity within the EU context. All the chapters in the book contribute to shift the focus of analysis from a merely cross-border approach, to the potential for more comprehensive levels of action.

European Political Science Journal

Thoughtful and open-minded, lucid and carefully organized…. It is at the cutting edge of debate about both the European Union and social movements…. This is research at its best, and the book deserves wide readership.
— John A. Hall

Contemporary Sociology

An important work [that] firmly establishes the relationship between social movement literature and European integration studies. . . . Contentious Europeans is rich in detail and judicious in conclusions, and the case studies are first-rate in terms of information and evaluation.
— Robert Ladrech

Eusa Journal