1st Edition

Student Politics and Protest International perspectives

Edited By Rachel Brooks Copyright 2017
    234 Pages
    by Routledge

    234 Pages
    by Routledge

    Despite allegations of political disengagement and apathy on the part of the young, the last ten years have witnessed a considerable degree of political activity by young people – much of it led by students or directed at changes to the higher education system. Such activity has been evident across the globe. Nevertheless, to date, no book has brought together contributions from a wide variety of national contexts to explore such trends in a rigorous manner. Student Politics and Protest: International Perspectives offers a unique contribution to the disciplines of education, sociology, social policy, politics and youth studies. It provides the first book-length analysis of student politics within contemporary higher education comprising contributions from a variety of different countries and addressing questions such as:

    • What roles do students’ unions play in politics today?
    • How successful are students in bringing about change?
    • In what ways are students engaged in politics and protest in contemporary society?
    • How does such engagement differ by national context?

    Student Politics and Protest: International Perspectives explores a number of common themes, including: the focus and nature of student politics and protest; whether students are engaging in fundamentally new forms of political activity; the characteristics of politically engaged students; the extent to which such activity can be considered to be ‘globalised’; and societal responses to political activity on the part of students. Student Politics and Protest: International Perspectives does not seek to develop a coherent argument across all its chapters but, instead, illustrate the variety of empirical foci, theoretical resources and substantive arguments that are being made in relation to student politics and protest.

    International in scope, with all chapters dealing with recent developments concerning student politics and protest, this book will be an invaluable guide for Higher Education professionals, masters and postgraduate students in education, sociology, social policy, politics and youth studies.

    1. Student Politics and Protest: an Introduction. 2. Campaigning for a Movement 3. Student Struggles and Power Relations in Contemporary Universities. 4. Neoliberal Discourses and the Emergence of an Agentic Field: the Chilean Student Movement 5. Affinities and Barricades. 6. Student Politics and the Value(s) of Public Welfare 7. The Politics of Higher Education Funding in the UK Student Movement 1996-2010 8. Student Power in 21st Century Africa 9. Students’ Associations 10. ‘If Not Now, Then When? If Not Us, Who?’ Understanding the Student Protest Movement in Hong Kong 11. Student Mobilization during Turkey’s Gezi Resistance: From the Politics of Change to the Politics of Lifestyle 12. Network Formation in Student Political Worlds 13. Conclusion

    Biography

    Rachel Brooks is Professor of Sociology at the University of Surrey in the UK.

    In many parts of the world it has become a commonplace to decry young people’s lack of political engagement, and especially to lament the decline of student-led political and social movements. Student Politics and Protest offers a most welcome insight into the presence, vibrancy and impact of contemporary student politics around the globe, and shows how higher education participation, policy and associational life profoundly shape young people as political actors today. Brooks’ outstanding collection is just the conversation changer we need in the debate about youth politics.

    Professor Anita Harris, Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University, Australia

     

     

    Student Politics and Protest brings together research from 19 countries to provide an extraordinarily rich reflection of how politics is enacted by students across the globe today. Each contribution is rooted in original empirical research – covering participation in formal organisations such as students’ unions through to informal activism in mass campaigns and protest movements – while the editor’s illuminating concluding reflections provide fresh insight into the commonalities and differences in student activism across both space and time.

    Professor Hilary Pilkington, School of Social Sciences, University of Manchester, UK

     

    Student Politics and Protest provides a much-needed analysis of the ways in which higher education students have engaged politically over the past few years. By drawing on a wide variety of empirical examples from across the world, it explores the different ways in which students have mobilised, the causes they have championed and how wider society has responded to their actions. It is an important and engaging text for scholars of contemporary higher education.

    Professor Claire Callender, Birkbeck and UCL-Institute of Education, University of London, UK

     

    While most important in providing activists as well as ideas for contentious politics, student movements have rarely been studied. Proposing innovative theoretical frameworks and covering a broad range of empirical cases of contemporary protests in institutions of higher education, this important volume contributes to our knowledge on politics and policies in times of austerity.

    Professor Donatella della Porta, Scuola Normale Superiore, Florence