The Peace Movement and Western European Sovereignty

Abstract

The Western European peace movements represent an important new phase of the struggle for social and political democratization. As in the case of the ecology movement and movements for urban autonomy, here too the public thematization of issues traditionally left to the administrative arbitrariness of the state, corporate boards and-or the automatic mechanisms of the market goes hand in hand with the self-constitution of democratic forms of association capable of exerting pressure on various levels of government and administration. The importance of this trend in social movements on a structural level lies in the challenge posed to the historically new degree of irresponsible (non-accountable) administrative intervention into social and economic processes.

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