What do the Ghanaian Convention People’s Party, the Narmada Bachao Andolan, and the Occupy movement have in common? Answer: they all are (Southern) social movements inhabiting and representing the subaltern. What is more, they are indicative of how the dynamics in which such social movements are embedded and to which they respond have changed and of the subsequent transformative impact that has had on counter-hegemonic social action and representation. In this paper, I will first delineate three waves of Southern social movements, namely national liberation, anti-developmentalist, and anti-neoliberal movements, trace their dialectic interlinkages, and address their differentiated levels of success. To that end, I will shed light on one particular social movement of each phase and discuss how they contended with the prevailing status quo, their motivations, aims, and achievements. I will then argue that, as both the spaces and groups they represent and the structural mechanisms they oppose have become consolidated, deterritorialized, and globalized, we should reject the state-based North-South binary in favor of a cosmopolitan rearticulation of Marxist class antagonism that makes the transnational subaltern the centerpiece of both oppression and resistance. Thereby, I am endorsing the post-sovereign counter-hegemonic project which does not only recognize the inexorability of globalization but also the dialectic potential inherent in that fact.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. National liberation movements
3. Developmentalism as a hegemonic project
4. The transition to neo-liberalism and the anti-neoliberal project
5. The transnational subaltern and the Occupy movement
6. Conclusion
Research Objectives and Themes
This paper examines the historical trajectory of Southern social movements through three distinct waves—national liberation, anti-developmentalist, and anti-neoliberal—to evaluate their success in achieving power and voice for the subaltern. It argues for moving beyond a state-based North-South binary toward a cosmopolitan, neo-Marxist framework that addresses the transnational nature of contemporary class struggle.
- Analysis of three waves of Southern social movements: national liberation, anti-developmentalist, and anti-neoliberal.
- Evaluation of the shifting spaces of subaltern resistance and representation.
- Critique of state-centric approaches versus transnational, post-sovereign counter-hegemonic projects.
- Integration of Marxist dialectics to understand historical materialism in modern class struggle.
- Examination of the Occupy movement as a model for trans-territorial subaltern solidarity.
Excerpt from the Book
The transition to neo-liberalism and the anti-neoliberal project
Nonetheless, on a local and regional level, anti-developmentalist movements were important in renegotiating the economic and political terms of developmentalism, beyond that, however, as the NBA bears testimony, they were ultimately unsuccessful in shaping the trajectory of development in the postcolonial. Instead, transnational capitalist elites, stirred by the subaltern challenges to their class power, launched a neoliberal counter-revolution, which advanced “restrictive monetary and fiscal policies, a curtailment of (…) welfare programmes, tax reductions, privatization (…), and deregulation (…), spearheaded by the conservative forces that won political power in the West in the early 1980s” (Motta & Nilsen, 2011, p.11). Thatcherism and Reaganomics constituted a turn from Bretton Woods-style embedded liberalism, which had at least carved out a space for national regulatory policy, to unfettered free-market neo-liberalism, undermining the developmentalist “institutional mechanism for economic redistribution and political mediation and consequently resulted in the disarticulation of the extant collective power of the popular classes” (ibid, p.12).
The construction of neoliberal hegemony reified the class power of capital by facilitating the upwards redistribution of wealth and replacing developmentalism’s logic of accumulation through state intervention with accumulation through dispossession of commons. The results were greatly exacerbated levels of intra- and international inequality, the precaritization of organized labor and the middle class, and the impoverishment of rural and indigenous subaltern groups. The establishment of a new legal order through supranational institutions like the WTO and the implementation of Structural Adjustment Policies through the Bretton Woods institutions helped edify neoliberal hegemony and fortuitous circumstances, such as the collapse of the communist block and economic crises in South and South East Asia, provided it with the opportunity to globalize.
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: The author defines the scope of the study, conceptualizing social movements within a postcolonial and neo-Marxist framework.
2. National liberation movements: This chapter traces the first wave of post-WWII movements that sought sovereignty and challenged colonial hegemony, exemplified by the Convention People’s Party in Ghana.
3. Developmentalism as a hegemonic project: The text analyzes how developmentalist states attempted to foster growth through protectionism, inadvertently creating new divisions between included and peripheralized subaltern groups.
4. The transition to neo-liberalism and the anti-neoliberal project: This section explores how transnational capitalist elites pushed back against subaltern challenges via neoliberal reforms, leading to a new cycle of resistance.
5. The transnational subaltern and the Occupy movement: The chapter argues that current resistance, such as Occupy, has graduated from territorial constraints to form global, class-based solidarity against the power of capital.
6. Conclusion: The author summarizes the findings, emphasizing the need for a well-organized post-sovereign left to address contemporary structural inequalities.
Keywords
Southern social movements, subaltern, neo-Marxism, national liberation, developmentalism, neoliberalism, class struggle, globalization, transnational solidarity, Occupy movement, hegemony, postcolonialism, resistance, state sovereignty, capital.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the central focus of this academic paper?
The paper examines how Southern social movements have evolved over three distinct historical waves to challenge structural hegemony, seeking to understand their success in representing subaltern interests.
What are the primary thematic fields addressed?
The research covers political movements, historical materialism, the evolution of capitalist hegemony, and the shift from state-centered to transnational resistance strategies.
What is the core research objective?
The objective is to determine if Southern social movements have achieved genuine power and voice, and to re-evaluate how these movements should be conceptualized in a globalized, post-sovereign era.
Which scientific methodology does the author utilize?
The paper employs a neo-Marxist analytical lens, focusing on the dialectic of historical materialism and the manifestation of class struggle within global economic and political structures.
What topics are discussed in the main body of the text?
The main body delineates the three waves of movements (national liberation, anti-developmentalist, and anti-neoliberal), discusses the failure of state-based representation, and analyzes the shift toward transnational, class-based solidarity.
Which keywords characterize the work?
Key terms include subaltern, hegemony, neoliberalism, post-sovereign, transnational solidarity, and class struggle.
How does the author view the 'North-South' binary?
The author argues that this binary is increasingly inadequate and should be replaced by a cosmopolitan framework that focuses on the global oppression of the subaltern by the class power of capital.
What role does the Occupy movement play in the author's argument?
The Occupy movement is highlighted as a primary example of a transnational, deterritorialized response to global neoliberal hegemony that transcends traditional geographical and political boundaries.
- Quote paper
- Jan-David Franke (Author), 2016, Have Southern social movements achieved power and voice? Whom do they represent?, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/411977
