TORONTO, September 8, 2008 -- A new breed of angry, in-your-face activist is resurrecting the power of the public to challenge authority, according to a new book by York University Professor Daniel Drache.

 

Record numbers of ‘micro-activists’ are gleaning wisdom from the Net about a range of issues –from the environment to the war in Iraq – and using text messages, blogs, social networking and other tools to challenge public authority and the mainstream culture of cynicism and conformity, Drache writes in Defiant Publics: The Unprecedented Reach of the Global Citizen.

 

“A teenager at an Internet café, a tenant in Bombay, a soccer mom, a boomer retiree – they all can take up unpopular causes in this new culture of dissent,” Drache said.

 

These ‘communities of choice’ are exploding in the Internet age and making an impact on local and global issues alike. In this way, politics is moving away from the old idea of victimhood to the politics of responsibility

 

The big story of the new millennium, Drache writes, is that dissenters and new social movements have begun to rescue the idea of the public from the economic determinism of the Washington Consensus world order.  That set of market-oriented policies of the ‘80s and ‘90s was synonymous with structural adjustment, aggressive privatization, public deregulation, and the cutting of social programs to meet strict deficit targets. 

 

“Whether or not neo-conservatives are prepared to face it, their defining moment is over. In the ‘90s people thought there was no alternative to global neo-liberalism.  Well, these ideas have been reframed by spiraling food and energy costs, soaring inflation and the financial crisis that seems to get bigger every month,” Drache said.

 

The book documents a growing backlash against politicians and other authority figures, part of a growing distrust and suspicion of government.  This decline of deference to authority and the political establishment is a major phenomenon with social implications Drache compares to the introduction of the birth control pill in the 1960s.

 

Drache studied 30 elections in 12 countries, discovering reinvigorated publics willing to punish governments for breaking promises and for pushing rigid ideological agendas.  Voters are showing a new preference for volatile coalition or minority governments – like the one in Canada – that are a brake on the exercise of power.

 

Examples of the public’s ability to shape the international agenda and effect political change are features of daily news, Drache said.

 

Barack Obama broke the grip of the Democratic establishment by building an electoral social movement for change with the help of 35 million Americans in the primary, the South Korean government fell on its sword when a secret deal to import American beef stirred public protest and Irish citizens rejected a new EU constitution they felt did not have adequate safeguards. 

 

“Those same micro-activists are now on Obama’s case to make sure he doesn’t flip-flop before the November vote.  We can’t be too much in awe of Obama because we don’t yet know where he’s going post-Biden,” Drache said.

 

Defiant Publics: The Unprecedented Reach of the Global Citizen, launching in Canada this month, is published by Polity Press.

 

Daniel Drache is a York professor of political science and associate director of the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies. He can be reached by email at drache@yorku.ca and by phone at (416) 736-5415.  For his webpage, please see www.yorku.ca/drache 

 

York University is the leading interdisciplinary research and teaching university in Canada. York offers a modern, academic experience at the undergraduate and graduate level in Toronto, Canada’s most international city. The third largest university in the country, York is host to a dynamic academic community of 50,000 students and 7,000 faculty and staff, as well as more than 200,000 alumni worldwide. York’s 11 faculties and 24 research centres conduct ambitious, groundbreaking research that is interdisciplinary, cutting across traditional academic boundaries. This distinctive and collaborative approach is preparing students for the future and bringing fresh insights and solutions to real-world challenges. York University is an autonomous, not-for-profit corporation.

 

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Media contact:

Killeen Kelly, Media Relations, York University, 416 736 2100 x22938 / killeenk@yorku.ca