Globalization and Social Protest

Today globalization has become a ‘catch-all’ word, often used to explain everything in the contemporary world. However, it still has an explanatory value, if combined with the “meta-level” theories andapproaches. In this paper I try to explain why and how globalization impacts mass protest behavior. So, a priori I suggest that globalization processes do matter in contentious politics and their transnationalization. In doing so, I align with a long-standing academic tradition of studying social movements and patterns of their dissemination around the world. What is really new in my approach to the topic is the ‘meta-level’ concepts I use to explain globalization’s impact on mass protest behavior. I introduce the analytical framework heavily based on the concept of ‘consumer society’ in its sociological interpretation. It means that consumption is not only a process to satisfacty basic needs but also a human activity aimed at gaining status in the social structure. Thus, I assume that globalization most directly affects individuals wherever they live and work through consumption, transforming its processes and objects. The impact of globalization on consumer society becomes mostly obvious if we consider the interaction of consumer society and information society and the birth of the digital virtual consumption. So, consumption nowadays determines not only the day-to-day material activities of the millions of peoples. It also strongly affects their dreams and desires. But consumer society produces not only abundance and affluence, but also deficit and dissatisfaction. So I turn to the analysis of the mass protest behavior arguing that the initial point of all the protest whatever kind and scope is the feeling of the dissatisfaction and deficit. The empirical part of my paper contains several case-studies. It begins with the analysis of the 1968 student revolts. I show that the 1968 protest was perhaps one of the first manifestations of the ongoing globalization process that nevertheless wasn’t identified at that time. The 1968 global revolts embrace the First (the USA and Western European countries), the Second (the ‘Prague Spring’) and the Third (Mexico, Jamaica) worlds. I pay special attention to the fact that the student uprisings in Western countries contemporized with the birth of the affluent consumer society in the USA and West Europe. So, I interpret the 1968 student protest as a reaction to the deficit of the freedom in the interpersonal and family relations. ‘Archaic’ social taboos of the 1950s were questioned by the generation of the “1960s” who already enjoyed all the ‘fruits’ of affluence. I continue tracing the impact of globalization on the mass protest movements with another case-study: the 1989 transnational popular uprisings in the former Eastern bloc. In so doing I pay a special attention to the ‘commodity deficit’ in the socialist countries in the late 1980s as one of the factors that galvanized public unrest. It’s commonly accepted tthat the velvet revolutions and the end of the cold war opened a door to the all-embracing globalization process. After that moment the impact of globalization on the birth of new social movements became more complex. During the 1990s it was realized that globalization isn’t a force for good, and therefore it must be regulated and contained. So, the antiglobalization movement started to manifest itself worldwide in a lot of protest campaigns. In my approach I interpret the ideology of antiglobalization movement as mainly a reaction to the inequality and deficits produced by globalization especially in developing countries. In conclusion I briefly trace the newest mass protest campaigns of the 2000-2010s paying special attention to colour revolutions and popular uprisings after the global financial crisis of 2008 (Arab spring, Occupy Wall Street and Euromaidan). I suggest that new means of communication (social media) not only build a new opportunity structure for the social activists, but also allow millions of people to express their identity and become powerful actors and a force of change that couldn’t be neglected by the rulers. The era of ‘virtual digital consumption’ adds a new dimension to the mass protest movements and facilitates their dissemination around the world. Therefore, I conclude by insisting on the returning of the “masses” on the global political scene.

1. Anderson L. (2011). Demystifying the Arab Spring. Parsing the Differences Between Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya. Foreign Affairs. Vol. 90. No.3. pp. 2-7.

2. Baudrillard J. (2006). Obshhestvo potreblenija. Ego mify i struktury [The Consumer Society: Myths and Structures]. Per. s fr., poslesl. i primech. E.A.Samarskoj. Moscow. Respublika; Kul'turnaja revoljucija. 269 p.

3. Baudrillard J. (2015). Simuljakry i simuljacii [Simulacra and Simulation]. Moscow. Izdatel'skij dom «Postum». 240 p.

4. Belk R. W. (2004). The Human Consequences of Consumer Culture. Elusive Consumption. Ed. by Ekstr m K. M., Brembeck H. Oxford. Berg. pp. 67-86.

5. Beschloss M.R., Talbott S. (1994). Na samom vysokom urovne. Zakulisnaja istorija okonchanija «holodno vojny» [At the Highest Levels: the Inside Story of the End of the Cold War]. Moscow: AO «Vse dlja Vas». 400s.

6. Boele R., Fabig H., Wheeler D. (2001). Shell, Nigeria and the Ogoni. A Study in Unsustainable Development. The Story of Shell, Nigeria and the Ogoni People – Environment, Economy, Relationships: Conflict and Prospects for Resolution. Sustainable Development. Vol. 9, No. 2. pp. 74-86. DOI: 10.1002/sd.161

7. Bogaturov A.D. (2010). Politicheskij spazm v global'nom masshtabe [The Political ‘Spasm’ in the Global Scale]. Mezhdunarodnye processy. Vol. 8, No. 3(24). S. 4-15.

8. Bogaturov A.D. (ed.) (2010). Sovremennaja mirovaja politika: Prikladnoj analiz [Modern World Politics: Applied Research]. Moscow: Aspekt Press. 592 s.

9. Bogaturov A.D., Vinogradov A.V. (2002). Anklavno-konglomeratnyj tip razvitija. Opyt transsistemnoj teorii.

10. [The ‘Enclave-Conglomerate’ Type of Development: An Essay on Trans-systemic Theory]. VostokZapad-Rossija. Sbornik statej. K 70-letiju akademika N.A.Simonii. Moscow. Progress – Tradicija. S.109-130.

11. Boyle Gray M. (1992). Consumer Spending on Durables and Services in the 1980s. Monthly Labor Review. May. P.18-26.

12. della Porta D., Andretta M., Mosca L., Reiter H. (2006). Globalization from below. Transnational Activists and Protest Networks. Minnesota. University of Minnesota Press. 336 p. della Porta D., Mattoni A. (eds) (2014). Spreading protest: social movements in times of crisis. Colchester. ECPR Press. 324 p.

13. Demerdash N. (2012). Consuming Revolution: Ethics, Art, and Ambivalence in the Arab Spring. New Middle Eastern Studies. Vol.2. 17р. Available at: http://www.brismes.ac.uk/nmes/archives/970 (accessed: 06.07.2015)

14. Emel'yanov A.L. (2005). Transformacija tradicionnoj diplomatii Malagasijskogo gosudarstva v XIX veke (dissertacija na soiskanie uchenoj stepeni doktora istoricheskih nauk) [Transformation of the Traditional Diplomacy in Malagasy State in XIX century (unpublished doctoral thesis)]. Moscow. 492 s.

15. Epstein M.N. (1990). Relativistic Patterns in Totalitarian Thinking: An Inquiry into the Language of Soviet Ideology. Kennan Institute Occasional Paper Series. No. 243. Washington, D.C. Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. 94 p.

16. Fink C., Gassert Ph., Junker D. (1998). 1968: the World Transformed. Washington, D.C.P: German Historical Institute, Cambridge University Press. 490 p.

17. Frangonikolopoulos Ch. A.; Chapsos, I. (2012). Explaining the Role and the Impact of the Social Media in the Arab Spring. Global Media Journal: Mediterranean Edition. Vol. 7. Iss.2. Fall. pp. 10-20.

18. Galaganova S.G. (2015). Ot «rasserzhennyh» k «vozmushhennym»: ideologija zapadnoevropejskogo protestnogo dvizhenija [From ‘the Angry Citizens' to 'the Indignant Citizens’ Movement: the Ideology of the Western European Protest Movement]. Aktual'nye voprosy sovremennyh obshhestvennyh nauk. Sbornik nauchnyh trudov po itogam mezhdunarodnoj nauchno-prakticheskoj konferencii. Ekaterinburg. S.16-18.

19. Harrison D. M. Consumerism. (2009). Globalization and Human Security: An Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. Ed. by Honor Fagan G., Munck R. Westport CT. Praeger Security Press. pp. 45- 62.

20. Hirszowicz M. (1980). The Bureaucratic Leviathan. NY: New York University Press. 208p.

21. Huntington S.P. (1993). The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century. Oklahoma. University of Oklahoma Press. 366 p.

22. Jakovlev A.I. (2012). Opyt revoljucii 1968 goda i arabskoj vesny [The Experience of the 1968 Revolution and Arab Spring]. Vostochnaja analitika. Ezhegodnik 2012. Institut vostokovedenija Moskva. S. 186–194.

23. Jones G. (2005). Multinationals and Global Capitalism: From the Nineteenth to the Twenty-First Century. Oxford. Oxford University Press. рp. 16-42.

24. Jones G., Zeitlin J. (eds) (2008). The Oxford Handbook of Business History. 2008. Ed. by Oxford: Oxford University Press. 717 p.

25. Kolpakova Ja.G. (2012). Novye liki antiglobalizma. Stanovlenie dvizhenija «Occupy Wall Street» [New Faces of Antiglobalism. The Emergence of ‘Occupy Wall Street’ Movement]. Vestnik Moskovskogo gosudarstvennogo lingvisticheskogo universiteta. №25 (658). S.80-87.

26. Korotaev A.V., Zin'kina Ju.V., A.S.Hodunov A.S. (eds) (2012). Sistemnyj monitoring global'nyh i regional'nyh riskov: Arabskaja vesna 2011 goda [The Systemic Monitoring of the Global and Regional Risks: The Arab Spring of 2011]. MoscowL Izdatel'stvo LKI. 463 p.

27. Lehdonvirta V. (2012). A history of the digitalization of consumer culture: From Amazon through Pirate Bay to Farm Ville. Digital Virtual Consumption. Ed. by Denegri-Knott J., Molesworth M. L. Routledge. pp. 11-28.

28. Marwick A. (2004). “1968” and the Cultural Revolution of the Long Sixties (c.1958 – c.1974). Transnational Moments of Change: Europe 1945, 1968, 1989. Ed. by Rainer-Horn G., Kenney, P. Lanham. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. рр. 84-91.

29. Mauss M. (2011). The Gift: The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies. Eastford CT. Martino Fine Books. 146 p.

30. McCracken G. (1990). Culture and Consumption: New Approaches to the Symbolic Character of Consumer Goods and Activities. Bloomington. Indiana University Press. 192p.

31. Milkman R. (2014). Millennial Movements. Occupy Wall Street and the Dreamers. Dissent. Summer. pp. 55-59.

32. Narochnitskaya N.A. (ed.) (2008). Oranzhevye seti. Ot Belgrada do Bishkeka [The Orange Networks: from Belgrade to Bishkek]. Saint Petersburg: Aletejja. 208 p.

33. Naumkin V.V. (2013). Rol' sredstv massovoj informacii v sobytijah arabskoj vesny [The Role of the Mass Media in the ‘Arab Spring’ Events]. Arabskij mir, islam i Rossija: proshloe i nastojashhee. Izbrannye glavy, stat'i, lekcii, doklady. Otv.red. V.Ja. Belokrenickij, I.D. Zvjagel'skaja. Moscow. IV RAN. pp. 410-423.

34. Beach in D., Polese A. (eds) (2010). The Colour Revolutions in the Former Soviet Republics. Successes and failures. L., NY: Routledge. 272 p.

35. O’Brien R., Williams M. (2007). Global Political Economy. Evolution and Dynamics. Second Edition. Houndmills, Basingstoke and NY. Palgrave Macmillan. 473 p.

36. Onuch O. (2014). Who Were the Protesters? Journal of Democracy. Vol. 25. No.3. pp. 44–51.

37. Ponomareva E.G. (2012). Sekrety «tsvetnykh revolyucij» [The Secrets of the Colour Revolutions]. Svobodnaja mysl'. №1-2 (1631). S. 87-98.

38. Prazauskas A.A. (1997). Yetnonacionalizm, mnogonacional'noe gosudarstvo i processy globalizacii [Ethnonationalism, Multination State and Globalization Processes]. Polis. Politicheskie issledovanija. No. 2. pp. 95-105.

39. Sledzevskij I.A., Savateev A.D. (2015). Protestnye dvizhenija v arabskih stranah: predposylki, osobennosti, perspektivy. Materialy konferencii «kruglogo stola» [The Protest Movements in the Arab Countries: Preconditions, Main Features, Perspectives. The Round Table Materials]. Moscow: LENAND. 128 p.

40. Rosenberg E.S. (2010). Consumer capitalism and the end of the Cold War. The Cambridge History of the Cold War, vol.3: Endings. Ed. by Leffler M.P., Westad O.A. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. pp. 489-598.

41. Sapronova M. A. (2011). Genezis arabskikh revoljucij [The Genesis of the Arab Revolutions]. Mezhdunarodnye processy. T.9. №3(27). S. 129-136.

42. Sapronova M.A. (2015). Stanovlenie novoj gosudarstvennosti na arabskom vostoke [Emergence of a New Statehood in the Arab World]. Mezhdunarodnye protsessy. 2015. Vol. 13. No. 3. P. 26-39. DOI

43. 17994/IT.2015.13.2.42.2

44. Schell O. (1988). Discos and Democracy: China in the Throes of Reform. NY. Pantheon. 384 р.

45. Shul'ts Je. (2015). Upravlenie sotsial'nym protestom kak tehnologija i soderzhanie «arabskoj vesny» [Manipulation of Social Protests as the Technology and Content of “Arab Spring”]. Mezhdunarodnye processy. 2015. Vol. 13. №1. S.89-96.

46. Solovej V.D. (2011). «Tsvetnye revoljutsii» i Rossiya [“Сolour revolutions” and Russia] // Sravnitel'naya politika. No. 1. S. 33-43.

47. Starr A., Adams J. (2003). Anti-globalization: The Global Fight for Local Autonomy. New Political Science. Vol. 25. No. 1. pр. 19-42.

48. Tomka B. (2013). A Social History of Twentieth-Century Europe. L.,NY: Routledge. 552 p.

49. Turner S. (1998). Global Civil Society, Anarchy and Governance: Assessing an Emerging Paradigm. Journal of Peace Research. Vol.35. No.1. pp.25-42.

50. Wallerstein I. (2002). New Revolts against the System. New Left Review. Iss.18. pp.29-39.

51. Zajtsev D.G.(2014). Massovyj politicheskij protest: problemy konceptualizacii i metodologii analiza [Mass Political Protest: Problems of Conceptualization and Analytical Methodology]. Politicheskie izmenenija v global'nom mire: teoretiko-metodologicheskie problemy analiza i prognozirovanija. Nauchnaja monografija. Redkollegija: I.S.Semenenko (otv.red.), V.V.Lapkin, V.I.Pantin . Moscow. IMEMO RAN. S. 124-141.