HOW DO SOCIAL MOVEMENTS MAINTAIN POLITICAL INFLUENCE?
Based on a study of Brazil’s AIDS Movement, this book shows how activist organizations can influence government policy while resisting cooptation. It presents an innovative model of collaboration between state and society—civic corporatism—that allows movements to maintain relative political autonomy despite deep ties to government bureaucrats. Bureaucrats who implement programs for marginalized groups depend on allies in civil society to mobilize pressure on politicians. These bureaucrats encourage civic organizations to play this role through targeted financial and technical support for advocacy. In so doing, they help social movements to endure.
“Jessica A.J. Rich breaks new ground in the study of the conditions under which social movement can endure and work with state institutions to advance their policy goals. Her study of the interaction between AIDS activists and bureaucrats in Brazil challenges much of the conventional wisdom about the political impact of social movements and their relations to the state. This is a rare book that promises to change the way scholars think about state-civil society relations and the politics of social policy reform.”
Kenneth A. Roberts, Richard J. Schwartz Professor of Political Science, Cornell University
“This book sets a new agenda for scholars of social movements, interest representation, policy-making, and public health. Contrary to the popular notion that corporatism is a relic of the past, Jessica A.J. Rich argues that state actors in the twenty-first century remain deeply involved in shaping and subsidizing groups in civil society. Her innovative contribution to theories of state-society relations is embedded in a revealing analysis of Brazil’s stunning policy success — addressing the HIV/AIDS epidemic.”