Research Guides: POLS 261: Global Civil Society and Transnational Social Movements (HC): Background Information

Arab Spring Protest

Demonstrators on an army truck in Tahrir Square, January 2011 (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Background Reading on Global Governance

Encyclopedia of Global Justice
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The Encyclopedia is an international, interdisciplinary, and collaborative project, spanning all the relevant areas of scholarship related to issues of global justice, and edited and advised by leading scholars from around the world. More than 500 wide-ranging entries present the latest ideas on this complex subject by authors who are at the cutting edge of inquiry.
Encyclopedia of Transitional Justice
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This 3-volume reference work offers 287 entries written by 166 scholars and practitioners drawn from diverse jurisdictions and includes detailed country studies; entries on transitional justice institutions and organizations; descriptions of transitional justice methods, processes, and practices; examinations of key debates and controversies; and a glossary of relevant terms and concepts.

Political Handbook of the World
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A collection of comprehensive country profiles containing detailed information on each nation's political history, government, leadership structure, elections, and political party system. Also included: profiles of intergovernmental organizations, development banks, and the agencies and specialized bodies of the United Nations.

Routledge Handbook of Democratization
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This volume "provides a global overview of the process of democratization, offering chapter by chapter discussion at both the country and regional levels and examining the interaction between the domestic and external factors that affect the progression of countries from authoritarian to democratic rule." - publisher's description. Also available in Tripod as an ebook.
Routledge international handbook of social justice
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This volume addresses key issues, such as resolving fundamental questions about human nature and social relationships; the distribution of resources, power, status, rights, access, and opportunities; and the means by which decisions regarding this distribution are made. Illustrating the complexity of the topic, it presents a range of international, historical, and theoretical perspectives, and discusses the dilemmas inherent in implementing social justice concepts in policy and practice.
Sage Handbook of Resistance
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Includes essays on community organizing, protest and other relevant issues. Note also this essay: "The World Social Forum and Global Resistance." See the contents for more details.
Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Globalization
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The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Globalization contains over 600 entries on the essential topics of globalization.
Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social and Political Movements
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Contains over 400 entries exploring social and political movements and related collective phenomena throughout the world.

Background Analysis: Literature Reviews

Literature reviews are a particularly useful resource when doing research. They address the issues involved in a particular question and the debates among scholars. They map out the intellectual terrain succinctly and give you the major landmarks in terms of key authors and significant titles for greater understanding.

Check here for literature reviews devoted in whole or part to issues related to your topic:

Annual Reviews

Examples from Annual Review titles include include:

Globalization and Social Movements. Annual Review of Sociology (2018)

Regime Change Cascades: What We Have Learned from the 1848 Revolutions to the 2011 Arab Uprisings. Annual Review of Political Science (2013)

Global Civil Society: The Progress of Post-Westphalian Politics. Annual Review of Political Science (2012)

Latin America, a Continent in Movement but Where to? A Review of Social Movements' Studies in the Region. Annual Review of Sociology (2018)

Oxford Bibliographies Online
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Annotated bibliographies by top scholars detailing key sources on a range of topics in many different academic fields. Check the items in the "Related Titles" box for additional information related to your interests. This series is under development and adds additional essays twice a year.
Transnational Social Movements
Global Civil Society. See the section, Occupy World Movement.
Dissertations and Theses
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Doctoral students go through an exhaustive research process and often include a literature review chapter in their dissertations. They also tend to work on new questions which may have received very little attention from scholars. You can obtain these dissertations and benefit from all the bibliographic treasures and new ideas. Check Dissertations & Theses to identify title on your topic.
The database covers the Humanities and Social Sciences and offers millions of dissertation titles and abstracts along with over 2 million full-text dissertations you can download. Titles not available full text can be checked on the Web or requested through Interlibrary loan.
Dissertations from Other Countries
Access dissertations from Britain, Europe, Mexico and other countries from this Tricollege guide.
For additional countries see the page put together by New York University.