The Transnational Activist

Zusatztext

This book provides the first historical and comparative study of the transnational activist. A range of important recent scholarship has considered the rise of global social movements, the presence of transnational networks, and the transfer or diffusion of political techniques. Much of this writing has registered the pivotal role of transnational or global activists. However, if the significance of the transnational activist is now routinely acknowledged, then the history of this actor is still something of a mystery. Most commentators have associated the figure with contemporary history. Hence much of the debate around transnational activism is ahistorical, and claims for novelty are not often based on developed historical comparison. As this volume argues, it is possible to identify the transnational activist in earlier decades and even centuries. But when did this figure first appear? What are the historical conditions that nurtured its emergence? What are the principal moments in the development of the transnational activist? And do the transnational activists of the Internet age differ in number or nature from those of earlier years? These historical questions will be at the heart of this volume.

Autorenportrait

Stefan Berger is Professor of Social History and Director of the Institute for Social Movements at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany. He is also Executive Chair of the Foundation History of the Ruhr and an Honorary Professor at Cardiff University in the UK. Together with Holger Nehring he has published The History of Social Movements in Global Perspective, (2017).   Sean Scalmer is Associate Professor in the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, University of Melbourne, Australia. His books include Gandhi in the West: The Mahatma and the Rise of Radical Protest, (2011) and On the Stump: Campaign Oratory and Democracy in the United States, Britain and Australia (2017).

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