RC47 premise in organizing this conference around the theme of globalization, from a North/South perspective is that collective action should never be far from an analysis of structural inequality and its increasingly complex global institutional features. Have our models of collective action been adequate to this task? Many, in the social movement community are increasingly saying no. The recent protests and anti-globalization initiatives taking place around the world, the heightened activity of NGOs and the resurgence of global civil society, attest to the necessity of updating or 'globalizing' collective action theories.

The conference addresses whether the phenomenon of globalization from a North/South perspective necessitates a fundamental re-framing of standard accounts of social movements and of the concept of social movement itself.

We ask therefore if an expanded/open and North/South view can help us more clearly understand this period of 'global modernities' and the spinning of human action beyond the local, or conversely deeply within it. Is globalization, from the purview of collective action, showing us a new paradigm for theoretical and empirical investigation?

We invite papers from around the world to address divisions, ruptures, anomalies and new challenges within the globalization thesis as a problem of collective action. Deadline for proposing papers is December 15, 2000

Contact:

Henri Lustiger-Thaler, Ramapo College, hlustige@hotmail.com
Jeff Goodwin, New York University, goodwin@mail.soc.nyu.edu

The Organizing Committee is composed of:

Antimo Farro, University of Rome, farro@uniroma1.it
Jeff Goodwin, New York University, goodwin@mail.soc.nyu.edu
Pierre Hamel, University of Montreal, pierre.hamel@umontreal.ca
Henri Lustiger-Thaler, Ramapo College, hlustige@hotmail.com
Jan Nederveen Peterse, Institute of Social Research, Hague, nederveen@iss.nl
Sasha Roseneil, University of Leeds, s.roseneil@leeds.ac.uk