On New Terrain

On New Terrain
Author: Kim Moody
Publisher: Haymarket Books
Total Pages: 282
Release: 2017-11-20
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1608468720

“A detailed and provocative study of how capital has changed since the 1980s and its effects on the working class and political parties in the USA.” —Scottish Left Review On New Terrain challenges conventional wisdom about a disappearing working class and the inevitability of a two-party political structure as the only framework for struggle. Through in-depth study of the economic and political shifts at the top of society, Moody shows how recent developments in capitalist production impact the working class and its power to resist the status quo. He argues that this transformed industrial terrain offers new possibilities for organization in the workplace and opens doors for grassroots, independent political action strengthened by reemerging labor and social movements. From the logistics revolution to the unprecedented concentration of business and wealth in the hands of the one percent, On New Terrain examines the impact of the current economic terrain on the working class in the United States. Looking beyond the clichés of precarity and the gig economy, Moody shows that the working class and its own self-activity are essential in the global battle against austerity. “[A] masterful and much-needed book.” —Solidarity “Immediately shakes the reader by offering a hard hitting, concrete and sober analysis of the transformation of both the capitalist and working classes of the USA.” —Bill Fletcher, Jr., coauthor of Solidarity Divided “He explodes myths about the gig economy and the potential to transform the Democratic Party. Readers will put the book down convinced that there is a way for workers to win.” —LaborNotes

How Organizations Develop Activists

How Organizations Develop Activists
Author: Hahrie Han
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 251
Release: 2014
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0199336776

Why are some civic associations better than others at getting-and keeping-people involved in activism? Using in-person observations, surveys, and field experiments, this book compares and describes contemporary models for engaging activists to show the effectiveness of one that combine political activism with transformative personal and collective growth.

Power Concedes Nothing

Power Concedes Nothing
Author: Linda Burnham
Publisher: OR Books
Total Pages: 300
Release: 2022-09-20
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9781682193303

The November 2020 US election was arguably the most consequential since the 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln--and grassroots leaders and organizers played crucial roles in the contention for the presidency and control of both houses of Congress. Power Concedes Nothing tells the stories behind a victory that won both the White House and the Senate and powered progressive candidates to new levels of influence. It describes the on-the-ground efforts that mobilized a record-breaking turnout by registering new voters and motivating an electorate both old and new. In doing so it charts a viable path to victory for the vital contests upcoming in 2022 and 2024. Contributors include: Cliff Albright, Yong Jung Cho, Larry Cohen, Sendolo Diaminah, Neidi Dominguez, David Duhalde, Alicia Garza, Ryan Greenwood, Arisha Michelle Hatch , Jon Liss, Thenjiwe McHarris, Andrea Cristina Mercado, Maurice Mitchell, Rafael Návar, Deepak Pateriya, Ai-jen Poo, W. Mondale Robinson, Art Reyes III, Nsé Ufot and Mario Yedidia

Organizing to Compete in the Political Terrain

Organizing to Compete in the Political Terrain
Author: Nadia Schadlow
Publisher:
Total Pages: 24
Release: 2010-07-31
Genre:
ISBN: 9781461176947

The degree to which military forces can and should shape the political landscape during war-that is, who rules contested territory-is at the root of several ongoing debates about how to restructure the U.S. Army. It is an issue that is central to striking the appropriate balance between civilian and military assets in stabilization and reconstruction operations, and it is key to determining how much to shift the Army toward so-called irregular war as opposed to so-called conventional capabilities. Decisions about the military's appropriate role in shaping political outcomes in war are fundamental to resolving these debates and will determine the degree of organizational and educational changes that the United States Army must make to meet current and future security threats. This monograph first explains that the character of future armed conflict will require an Army that is capable of shaping political outcomes in war. Second, it highlights how current debates over organizing civilian and military assets in a wartime theater are linked, fundamentally, to the question of who should shape politics in a war. Third, the monograph argues that, partly due to inherent limitations in civilian capacities-but also due to the nature of war-the Army must embrace and prepare for governance-related missions through changes in organization and education.

Ground Wars

Ground Wars
Author: Rasmus Kleis Nielsen
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 250
Release: 2012-02-05
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1400840449

Political campaigns today are won or lost in the so-called ground war--the strategic deployment of teams of staffers, volunteers, and paid part-timers who work the phones and canvass block by block, house by house, voter by voter. Ground Wars provides an in-depth ethnographic portrait of two such campaigns, New Jersey Democrat Linda Stender's and that of Democratic Congressman Jim Himes of Connecticut, who both ran for Congress in 2008. Rasmus Kleis Nielsen examines how American political operatives use "personalized political communication" to engage with the electorate, and weighs the implications of ground war tactics for how we understand political campaigns and what it means to participate in them. He shows how ground wars are waged using resources well beyond those of a given candidate and their staff. These include allied interest groups and civic associations, party-provided technical infrastructures that utilize large databases with detailed individual-level information for targeting voters, and armies of dedicated volunteers and paid part-timers. Nielsen challenges the notion that political communication in America must be tightly scripted, controlled, and conducted by a select coterie of professionals. Yet he also quashes the romantic idea that canvassing is a purer form of grassroots politics. In today's political ground wars, Nielsen demonstrates, even the most ordinary-seeming volunteer knocking at your door is backed up by high-tech targeting technologies and party expertise. Ground Wars reveals how personalized political communication is profoundly influencing electoral outcomes and transforming American democracy.

Political Terrain

Political Terrain
Author: Carl Abbott
Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press
Total Pages: 278
Release: 2005-10-12
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0807875694

Washington, D.C., President John F. Kennedy once remarked, is a city of "southern efficiency and northern charm." Kennedy's quip was close to the mark. Since its creation two centuries ago, Washington has been a community with multiple personalities. Located on the regional divide between North and South, it has been a tidewater town, a southern city, a coveted prize in fighting between the states, a symbol of a reunited nation, a hub for central government, an extension of the Boston-New York megalopolis, and an international metropolis. In an exploration of the many identities Washington has taken on over time, Carl Abbott examines the ways in which the city's regional orientation and national symbolism have been interpreted by novelists and business boosters, architects and blues artists, map makers and politicians. Each generation of residents and visitors has redefined Washington, he says, but in ways that have utilized or preserved its past. The nation's capital is a city whose history lives in its neighborhoods, people, and planning, as well as in its monuments and museums.

Political Savvy

Political Savvy
Author: Joel R. DeLuca
Publisher: Evergreen Business Group
Total Pages: 268
Release: 1999
Genre: Leadership
ISBN: 0966763602

Organizational Culture

Organizational Culture
Author: Joanne Martin
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Total Pages: 417
Release: 2001-08-21
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1483364445

Organizational Culture provides a sweeping interdisciplinary overview of the organizational culture literature, showing how and why researchers have disagreed about such fundamental questions as: What is organizational culture? What are the major theoretical perspectives used to understand cultures in organizations? How can a researcher decipher the political interests inherent in research that claims to be political neutral -- merely "descriptive"? Expert author Joanne Martin examines a variety of conflicting ways to study cultures in organizations, including different theoretical orientations, political ideologies (managerial, critical, and apparently neutral); methods (qualitative, quantitative, and hybrid approaches), and styles of writing about culture (ranging from traditional to postmodern and experimental). In addition, she offers a guide for those who might want to study culture themselves, addressing such issues as: What qualitative, quantitative, and hybrid methods can be used to study culture? What standards are used when reviewers evaluate these various types of research? What innovative ways of writing about culture have been introduced? And finally, what are the most important unanswered questions for future organizational culture researchers? Intended for graduate students and established scholars who need to understand, value, and utilize highly divergent approaches to the study of culture. The book will also be useful for researchers who do not study culture, but who are interested in the ways political interests affect scholarly writing, the ways critical and managerial approaches to theory differ, the use and justification of qualitative methods in domains where quantitative methods are the norm.

Power, Politics, and Organizational Change

Power, Politics, and Organizational Change
Author: David Buchanan
Publisher: SAGE
Total Pages: 378
Release: 2008-02-19
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1473903491

`Many books on management are sanitized, cleanly technical accounts of the unreality of managerial life and work. Politics hardly feature. This book tells it like it is: it dishes the dirt, gets low-down, into the funky and fascinating politics of organizational life′ - Stewart Clegg, Aston Business School and University of Technology, Sydney Combining a practical and theoretical guide to the politics of organizational change, this book provides an exceptional resource to students of change management, and organizational behaviour. Buchanan and Badham show how the change agent who is not politically skilled will fail, and that it is necessary to be able and willing to intervene in the political processes of the organization. This revised edition includes a range of excellent new material and features, including: - a new chapter on gender in approaches to organization politics - a full range of teaching materials including case studies, incident reports, self-assessments, and more - Each chapter recommends a feature film (or DVD) to illustrate aspects of organization politics - fresh research evidence - recent literature on the nature of entrepreneurial politics; - a model of political expertise, and how that can be developed This lively and engaging book is key to MBA and other Masters degree candidates taking courses in change management, and organizational behaviour. It will also be valuable for practising managers on tailored executive programmes in organization politics.