Angela Alonso

As teorias dos movimentos sociais: um balanço do debate

Abstracts 1) social movements, cycles and revolutions; 2) collective identities and social networks; 3) social movements and institutional politics; and 4) globalization and transnational contention illustrate the promise and perils of the enterprise. Keywords: Political contention; Social movement; Collective action; Social network; Transnational movement. As TeorIAs Dos moVImeNTos soCIAIs: um BALANCo Do DeBATe AngelA AlonSoEste artigo apresenta as tres principais teorias de explica-cao dos movimentos sociais, constituidas nos anos 1970; a Teoria de Mobilizacao de Recursos, a Teoria do Processo Politico e a Teoria dos Novos Movimentos Sociais. Em segui-da, mapeiam-se as reformulacoes de que essas teorias foram objeto, seja em reacao as criticas recebidas, seja para fazer face as mudancas empiricas das ultimas decadas, que acen-tuaram as dimensoes cultural e transnacional do ativismo. Palavras-chave: Teorias dos movimentos sociais; Mobilizacoes coletivas; Ativismo transnacional; Cultura e acao politica.

Identidade e estratégia na formação do movimento ambientalista brasileiro

Relying on a conceptual synthesis provided by the Political Process and New Social Movement theories, this article analyses the strategic and symbolic dimensions of the Brazilian environmental movements formation process. The authors argue that three political opportunity structures - Redemocratization, Constituent Assembly and Rio 92 - provided the parameters for environmental groups to arise and face common dilemmas regarding their frames and mobilizing strategies. Through this process, a shared identity came about.

A teatralização da política: a propaganda abolicionista

This article argues that although Brazilian abolitionists turned to foreign models of abolitionism to develop their own propaganda, their choices were constrained by local political opportunities and the local Catholic tradition. Those contingences prevented any simple transposition of a foreign model of activism and led to a creative appropriation that responded to the Brazilian context and tradition. The process eventually turned into a reinvention, since arts, especially the theater, acquired the same prominence in the Brazilian abolitionist propaganda that religion had obtained in Anglo-American countries.

From Protest to Professionalization: Brazilian Environmental Activism After Rio-92

In the past decade, environmental activism in Brazil has experienced a substantial tactical shift. Many activists have gained access to national political offices, the most prominent of whom is Marina Silva at the Ministry of the Environment. This research shows that protest groups of the 1980s paved the way for a professionalized form of environmental activism that relies on a firm-like organizational profile and expert staffing. Today, far away from confrontation, environmental activism in Brazil builds on cooperative relationships between political authorities and scientific elites. In this article, the authors argue that the transmutation of the profile of activism was largely stimulated by the availability of new resources and opportunities and the presence of national and transnational alliances available after Rio-92. The argument presented here draws on an analysis of the two biggest and most important environmental organizations in Brazil, namely, the SOS Atlantic Forest Foundation and the Socio-Environmental Institute (ISA).

O abolicionista cosmopolita: Joaquim Nabuco e a rede abolicionista transnacional

This article argues that Joaquim Nabucos position as a leader of the Brazilian anti-slavery movement was due to his ability to build the brokerage between diverse social networks, operating as a broker between parliamentary and civil society activism, on the one hand, and between the local activism and the global abolitionist network, on the other.

From One Summit to Another The Changing Landscape of Brazilian Environmental Movement

This article approaches the changes in the Brazilian political and social landscape from Rio-92 to Rio-2012, focusing in how the Brazilian environmental movement went through a process of professionalization and specialization around forest issues, in disregard of urban and social issues. Because of that its capacity of promoting huge public demonstration in alliance with other social movements during Rio-2012 declined. Besides, the article wonders if the Rio 2012 will find room to push the public debate for green policies in a context of international economical crisis.

O abolicionismo como movimento social

O artigo analisa o fenomeno da abolicao da escravidao no Brasil a partir de uma sociologia politica relacional. De um lado, o abolicionismo e analisado como parte de uma dinâmica que envolvia instituicoes politicas, espaco publico e clandestinidade, arenas nas quais se travou o jogo entre movimento, Estado e contramovimento escravista. De outro lado, a analise insere o movimento em seu contexto internacional, apontando a apropriacao do repertorio de experiencias abolicionistas estrangeiras por ativistas brasileiros. O objetivo e evidenciar a modernidade e a relevância do movimento abolicionista nacional para o processo politico de abolicao da escravidao.