BiblioVault - Books about Political Mobilization

The Political Mobilization of the Christian Community in Malaysia

Pui Yee Choong

Leiden University Press, 2024

'The Political Mobilization of the Christian Community in Malaysia' outlines how the Malaysian Christian community defends its religious rights without being construed as anti-Islam.

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Political Mobilization of the Venezuelan Peasant

John Duncan Powell

Harvard University Press, 1971

In Venezuela, 1935 to 1958 marked the decline of traditional dictatorships and the emergence of stable democratic government. This pioneering study traces the formation of a successful alliance between the peasants and a small urban elite, provides an empirical structural-functional analysis of the alliance, and develops a provocative new view of peasant mobilization.

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Politics in the Pews

The Political Mobilization of Black Churches

Eric L. McDaniel

University of Michigan Press, 2008

"Politics in the Pews probes the internal dynamics of political decision making within the Black church."
---William E. Nelson, Jr., Research Professor, Department of African American and African Studies, Ohio State University

As Eric McDaniel demonstrates in his study of Black congregations in the U.S., a church's activism results from complex negotiations between the pastor and the congregation. The church's traditions, its institutional organization, and its cultural traditions influence the choice to make politics part of the church's mission. The needs of the local community and opportunities to vote, lobby, campaign, or protest are also significant factors.

By probing the dynamics of churches as social groups, McDaniel opens new perspectives on civil rights history and the evangelical politics of the twenty-first century. Politics in the Pews contributes to a clearer understanding of the forces that motivate any organization, religious or otherwise, to engage in politics.

Eric L. McDaniel is Assistant Professor in the Department of Government at the University of Texas at Austin.

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Resurgent Voices in Latin America

Indigenous Peoples, Political Mobilization, and Religious Change

Cleary, Edward L.

Rutgers University Press, 2004

After more than 500 years of marginalization, Latin America’s forty million Indians have recently made major strides in gaining political recognition and civil rights. In this book, social scientists explore the important role of religion in indigenous activism, showing the ways that religion has strengthened indigenous identity and contributed to the struggle for indigenous rights in the region.

Drawing on case studies from Bolivia, Peru, Guatemala, Ecuador, Paraguay, and Mexico, the contributors explore four key questions. How have traditional religions interacted with Christianity to produce new practices and beliefs? What resources, motivations, and ideological legitimacies do religious institutions provide for indigenous social movements? How effective are these movements in achieving their goals? Finally, as new religious groups continue to compete for adherents in the region, how will individuals’ religious choices affect political outcomes?

Resurgent Voices in Latin America offers new insight into the dynamics of indigenous social movements and into the complex and changing world of Latin American religions. The essays show that religious beliefs, practices, and institutions have both affected and been affected by political activism.

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