Recent uprisings in the Global South, from the Middle East to Latin America, have been in the news, yet they remain poorly understood in the Global North. This lecture shows why it is important to speak of specifically Southern social movements, analyses their defining features, and discusses their prospects.
Many movements in the global South continue to bear the marks of their emergence in colonial and post-colonial contexts. In addition, they are faced with political regime types that are much more varied than those in the North, and with constantly shifting relations between the state and civil society. Finally, there is usually an implicit connection between social movements and democratization processes, between identity and economic issues, and between formal and informal types of politics.