Doing Democracy (Paperback)

~ (Author), JoAnn McAllister (Author), Mary Lou Finley (Author), Steve Soifer (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This activist tool offers a theoretial model for ensuring that social movements are successful in the long term. Beginning with an overview of social movement theory and the MAP (Movement Action Plan) model, Doing Democracy outlines the eight stages of social movements, the four roles of activists, and case studies from the civil rights, anti-nuclear energy, Central America, gay/lesbian, women's health and globalization movements.

About the Author

Bill Moyer is the Executive Director of the San Francisco-based Social Movement Empowerment Project. He has been an organizer of environrmental and social movements for 35 years.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: New Society Publishers; 1 edition (August 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0865714185
• ISBN-13: 978-0865714182
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #14,267 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extraordinary Strategic/Tactical Guide for People Power, January 20, 2004

By	Robert D. Steele (Oakton, VA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

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This book is both a strategic orientation to, and a tactical primer on, how to develop and manage non-violent social movements at the grassroots or "people power" level.

The reason this book is important is because it solves the most important problem or gap facing all social movements: the lack of strategic models and methods that help activists understand, plan, conduct, and evaluate their social movements. I have read this book from cover to cover and it fulfills the objective. Had Howard Dean and Joe Trippi read this book six months ago, they would not have blown the lead and come in a sorry fourth (less than half of what Kerry had, less than a quarter Kerry and Edwards combined), to guys that did *not* figure out MoveOn.org and the Internet as a collective consciousness tool.

This is among the most heavily marked up books I have read in the past four years, and instead of summarizing it in detail, which may cause some of you to avoid buying it, I will simply endorse the primary author's view that social movements are needed now more than ever, for the simple reason that the powerholders are making life on the planet unsustainable--everything they do (think Dick Cheney here) to increase profits, control, and power, is also "increasing unemployment, the gap between rich and poor, violence, ecological collapse, and unsustainability".

There are four aspects of the book that are especially valuable as we all find ourselves in a "world war" between fundamentalist groups (both Islamic and extremist Americans of the religious right falling prey to neo-conservative doctrine) and progressive individuals seeking the common good:

1) the author's focus on sub-movements, on creating a strategic campaign that specifically embraces each sub-movement as a distinct but coordinated element, is the "aha" factor in leaping forward.

2) the author's specific discussion of negative rebels and how much harm they can do to the larger movement is compelling, to the point of actually suggesting that we need to create a counterintelligence service within social movements to address this. The few violent protesters in Seattle got all the media coverage, and the non-violent mass lost a great deal of credit.

3) the eight-stages of social movements are extremely detailed and the case studies help to explain why the "slump" must be overcome in the fifth stage, when success has been achieved but there is a perception of failure.

4) the importance of having an economic strategy for where the social movement's vision needs to go, is not understood by most presidential candidates. This book is valuable to anyone who would be president, or senator, for it explains not only how to organize and lead a social movement, but how to govern resources to its desired ends after the fact of victory. Real world budgeting is a neglected aspect of leadership during the electoral process.

I would say that this book (together with Tom Atlee's "The Tao of Democracy: Using CO-INTELLIGENCE to create a world that works for all"), is core reading for anyone interested in saving his or her neighborhood, his or her country, or the world at large. The primary and secondary authors are also to be commended for making the point that it is possible to be effective *regardless of who is President or what party is in charge in the capitol*--they emphasize local grass-roots effectiveness that is non-partisan.

Juliette Beck and Nancy Gregory make contributions that should have been acknowledged on the cover. Juliette Beck especially, with her focus on globalization and the sub-movements and stages of the aggregate movement, provides a most satisfactory case study that concludes the book.

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent -- How to really DO Democracy!, September 13, 2001

By	Careful reader (Ohio) - See all my reviews

If you want to make the world a better place, buy this book.

Based on his years of experience, Bill Moyer knows how to design effective nonviolent social change movements that can challenge entrenched power, overcome resistance, and implement positive alternatives. Moyer explains how grassroots democracy really works and shows how to build powerful change movements that uphold widely held values like honesty, democracy, fairness, compassion, and protection of the envionment. He also shows how conventional politics meshes with grassroots organizing.

The section on how Moyer's ideas fit in with the sociology and polictical science literature is easy to read and interesting. The current scholarly literature on social change movements is quite meager and Moyer's model makes a big contribution to change theory.

Finally, the examples at the end of the book are enlightening and heartening.

Read this book and then go out and make the world better!

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you are a social activist, please read this book, August 15, 2005

By	Eric E. Sterling (Silver Spring, MD) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As a long time activist in drug policy reform and criminal justice reform, I have been aware that many of the movement leaders and the grass roots activists really don't know what they are doing. They know the facts of the issue, and they know that they need to get Congress and the state legislatures to change the laws, but they have an undeveloped and uninformed view of how to achieve the changes they are working for. Many of them don't realize that building a grass roots movement is essential. And many of those who know they are trying to mobilize a majority, aren't aware that their messages or tactics can often be counter-productive. This book brings a great deal of wisdom and clarity.

This easy-to-read book can help break down the confusion within the movement about the necessary, different roles people need to fill. Read this book and learn that different approaches are necessary to complement each other. This, hopefully, will minimize the uninformed arguments about strategy that we have engaged in. The lessons of this book lay the groundwork for fruitful discussions of what we can and should be doing.

This book provides a very valuable analysis of the stages that movements go through, on the way to success. The case histories teach, among other things, that the stages can overlap.

This book is grounded in the tradition of nonviolent social action. It is remains idealistic in the best sense, and is not cynical.

Eric E. Sterling
Criminal Justice Policy Foundation