Jean Grugel Knihy

In 1989, observers of world politics became convinced that they were witnessing a new era: the global primacy of democracy. Governments committed to building democracy had taken office in a range of apparently unconnected countries, including Spain, Argentina, the Philippines, Poland and South Korea. The collapse of the Soviet Union and the pro-democracy demonstrations in China led to the belief that liberal democracy was now the only legitimate political ideology. This book offers a comprehensive and theoretically-informed introduction to democratization. Drawing on examples from Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia, it shows how global transformation made democratization possible and analyzes the processes of political change in key countries. However, democratization is a slow and painful business and many attempts have failed or stalled. This book shows how successful democratization requires not only a favorable international climate but also strong, dense and vibrant civil societies and a capable and flexible state.

This book offers a comprehensive analysis of the effects of global governance on everyday lives, focusing on case studies in labor, migration, children, and development. Authors Jean Grugel and Nicola Piper examine how global norms impact ordinary people, often hindering development and inclusion, particularly in the global South, Asia, and Latin America.

The politics of claiming rights and strategies of mobilisation exhibited by marginalised social groups lie at the heart of this volume. Theoretically, the authors aims to foster a holistic and multi-faceted understanding of how social and economic justice is claimed, either through formal, corporatist or organised mechanisms, or through ad hoc, informal, or individualised practices, as well as the implications of these distinctive activist strategies. The collection emphasises both the difficulties of political mobilisation and the distinctive methods employed by various social groups across a variety of contexts to respond and overcome these challenges. Crucially, the authors’ approach involves a conceptualisation of social movements and local mobilisation in terms of the language of rights and justice claims-making through more organised as well as everyday political practices. In so doing, the book bridges the literature on contentious politics, the politics of claimingsocial justice, and everyday politics of resistance.