Doug Imig

The Europeanization of Movements? A New Approach to Transnational Contention

The town of Shoreham is a sleepy ferry port on the south coast of England. But in January 1995, it was the catalyst for a nationwide campaign against the export of live calves to the European continent, where they are slaughtered after gruelling journeys and weeks in wooden crates. After an earlier campaign in the early 1990s, the practice of ‘in-crate feeding’, which continental chefs say produces the most tender veal, was banned in Britain. But a market is a market, and the response of British cattle breeders was to ship live calves to the continent, where cattle operations and governments are less fastidious than in Britain.

Contestation in the Streets European Protest and the Emerging Euro-Polity

Evidence of political contestation in the EU, largely drawn from public opinion data and party manifestos, is inconclusive concerning the degree to which attitudes toward the EU are inde-pendent from other political cleavages as well as on the salience of the European political dimen-sion to most citizens. In this article, the author examines longitudinal and cross-national data on European political protests to discuss the dimensionality of contention when protests involve the EU. An analysis of this data indicates that Europe is the focus of a small but growing number of protests and also suggests that the EU matters intensely to groups who fear their livelihood is threatened by integration. Moreover, the evidence suggests there is a strong correspondence between anti-integration and Left political sentiment within popular protests.

Examining the Association between the "Imagination Library" Early Childhood Literacy Program and Kindergarten Readiness.

This study evaluated participation in the Imagination Library early childhood literacy enrichment program and childrens pre-literacy and pre-numeracy skills at kindergarten entry in an urban school district. Previous studies have demonstrated that program participation is associated with greater early childhood reading practices. Results presented in this article suggest that program participation is also positively and significantly associated with higher early language and math scores, even after controlling for other key factors associated with kindergarten readiness. These results offer support for policy interventions designed to advance kindergarten readiness by increasing access to early literacy materials for families with young children.

Activism Inc.: How the Outsourcing of Grassroots Campaigns Is Strangling Progressive Politics in America and The Art of Protest: Culture and Activism from the Civil Rights Movement to the Streets of Seattle

Activism Inc.: How the Outsourcing of Grassroots Campaigns Is Strangling Progressive Politics in America. By Dana R. Fisher. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006. 168p.

Political contention in a Europeanising polity

24.95 cloth. The Art of Protest: Culture and Activism from the Civil Rights Movement to the Streets of Seattle. By T. V. Reed. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2005. 362p.

From strike to Eurostrike: The Europeanization of social movements and the development of a Euro-Polity

74.95 cloth,

Politischer Protest im europäischen Mehrebenensystem

24.95 paper. These two new books bring welcome perspectives to the study of social movements in America. Reed considers the art of collective action: in terms of both the creative repertoire of activists responding to evolving social and political contexts and the cultural arts that are invoked by and associated with social movements. Fishers book, meanwhile, sheds light on a second dimension of collective action: the nationwide grassroots canvassing organizations that collect donations and [ostensibly] inform concerned citizens about progressive issues. At first glance, the two books seem to be speaking to aspects of mobilization that are worlds apart. However, their differences help to bring a fuller understanding of the operational field in which social movements are sustained or wither.