Social Movements and Struggles for Justice

Social movements struggle for many things: policy change, changes in social relations, fundamental changes in the structures of government. We will focus on how social movements struggle to achieve justice, and specifically consider how social movements interact with efforts to strengthen the accountability of states and the rule of law. We will examine the central debates of scholars who look at how social movements and the law interact, and reflect on whether and under what circumstances we think law is a useful tool for social movements, and when it may hinder the achievement of justice.