Search results

As the first presenter in a symposium on social movements in the USSR, held 28 Nov 1989, Henry R. Huttenbach (City Coll, New York, NY), in In Support of Nagorno-Krabakh: Social Components of the Armenian Nationalist Movement, discusses the historical dimension of the politicogeographical dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh, an area of Armenian settlement that is now part of Azerbaijan. The roots of Russian control date from the seventeenth century, when Christian Armenian emissaries urged the Romanovs to liberate the Christians in Nagorno-Karabakh from Muslim control. Centuries of changing from Muslim to Christian domination have culminated most recently in Mikhail Gorbachev's decision, disappointing the Armenian nationalist movement, to leave Nagorno-Karabakh as part of primarily Muslim Azerbaijan, under some superivision of the central Soviet government. In How Political Are the Social Movements in the Baltic Republics?, Alexandras Shtromas (Hillsdale Coll, Mich) contends that the growing social movements in the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania, & Estonia (eg, the Lithuanian Sajudis), which were originally established to implement Gorbachev's policies of glasnost & perestroika, have now become independent political movements acting against the Soviet Communist Party & in favor of their respective nations' freedom. The history of the Sajudis & their Latvian & Estonian counterparts is outlined, & their future goals are delineated. IN Pamiat' as a Social Movement, John B. Dunlop (Hoover Instit, Stanford, Calif) explains that Pamiat' is more of a fringe phenomenon than a social movement, consisting of a small group of extremists within the Russian Republic, that attracted Soviet & worldwide attention when it staged a large raucous demonstration in May 1987, culminating in a meeting with (then) first party secretary of the Mowscow City Party Committee, Boris Yeltsin. Its chief, Dmitri Vasil'ev, described here as a "Russian Mussolini," defined the primary goals of the Pamiat' as: restoration of the Russian monarchy; reestablishment of the Orthodox Church; & recognition of the Russian people as a nationality with a consultative role in their own government. Vasil'ev's interpretation of these goals, however, is riddled with historical inaccuracies, & his projected implementation measures would repel most Russians, not to mention other Soviet nationalities. In Discussion, the three contributors not only respond to questions, & entertain suggestions from members of the symposium audience. J. W. Stanton

Social Movements have become a central focus of political study in recent years. Paul Byrne's accessible account of British Social movements introduces students to the relevant theories, and puts them into practice by examining groups such as Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, the Women's Movement and the Green Party. Byrne goes on to look at how the British scene compares with what is happening in the rest of Europe and in America.

Reasons for the emergence of global human rights and peace groups in the West, and their political and organizational survival strategies; 6 articles.

"We have all witnessed social movements and felt their effects--some subtle, others profound. This volume brings together well-known scholars to assess the impact of such movements over time in different countries, and on various segments of society"--Provided by publisher

Social Movements in Development, edited by Staffan Lindberg and Arni Sverrisson, is reviewed.

Two social movements in the last fifty years have had a profound impact on our understanding of law and the role of the courts in our system of government. One is the civil rights movement. The demand for greater racial and gender equality and other civil rights has changed the face of the law in countless ways. For example, it has called into question – or at least required a fundamental revision in – the traditional understanding that the courts should interpret the Constitution and laws in accordance with their original meaning. Decisions such as Brown v. Board of Education and the voting rights cases appear to presuppose that the meaning of the law can change over time as courts' perceptions of social exigencies change. The civil rights revolution has also thrust courts deeply into the governance of traditionally autonomous institutions such as local schools, election boards, prisons, and mental hospitals. There is a second social movement, however, that can also lay claim to have transformed our conception of law and the role of courts – the environmental movement. Environmentalism burst onto the scene on Earth Day in 1970 and, despite some challenges to its position, has not departed since. Although the influence of environmentalism on the legal system has not been as pervasive as that of the civil rights movement, it too has left its mark in many ways. For example, environmentalism can take credit for the vast expansion in the law of standing that took place in the early 1970's. Similarly, environmental groups pioneered the use of "public interest law firms" as private enforcers of public laws. As a consequence of these and related developments, the environmental movement gave rise to a new and much more aggressive style of judicial review of agency action, known as the "hard look" doctrine. Environmentalism has also had an impact on substantive legal norms, most prominently perhaps with respect to causation, where courts have gone so far as to hold that liability may be imposed under the "Superfund" statute without regard to any showing of causation of injury at all. Each of these innovations has spilled over from environmental controversies to other areas of the law.