New Social Movements and Democracy

The book presents a framework for discerning democratic processes in contemporary societies by highlighting the relevance of new social movements (NSMs) analysis towards a different understanding of the relation between democracy and civil society. On hand of the Palestinian case, the study catches alternative democratic processes through an improved comprehension of what is now indiscriminately called NGOs, by featuring a new kind of social actor, close to what one could call NSM, and by demonstrating how it potentially contributes to a new democratic culture and to policy change.