© 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This article was first published in Globalizations,
and is reproduced with permission.
This journal is published by the University Library System, University of Pittsburgh as part of
its D-Scribe Digital Publishing Program and is cosponsored by the University of Pittsburgh Press.
JOURNAL OF WORLD-SYSTEMS RESEARCH
FORUM ON SAMIR AMIN’S PROPOSAL FOR A NEW
INTERNATIONAL OF WORKERS AND PEOPLES
Forging a Diagonal Instrument for the Global Left:
The Vessel
Rebecca Álvarez
New Mexico Highlands University
rlalvarez@nmhu.edu
Christopher Chase-Dunn
Institute of Research on World-Systems
chriscd@ucr.edu
Social movements have been important drivers of social change since the Stone Age. They both
reproduce and alter social structures and institutions. In this essay, we use the world-systems
perspective to examine the possibilities for increasing the cohesiveness and capability of
progressive global social movements. The comparative evolutionary world-systems perspective
studies the ways that waves of social movements have driven the rise of more complex and more
ISSN: 1076-156X | Vol. 25 Issue 2 | DOI 10.5195/JWSR.2019.947 | jwsr.pitt.edu
Samir Amin, a leading scholar and co-founder of the world-systems tradition, died on August 12,
2018. Just before his death, he published, along with close allies, a call for ‘workers and the people’
to establish a ‘fifth international’ to coordinate support to progressive movements. To honor Samir
Amin’s invaluable contribution to world-systems scholarship, we are pleased to present our readers
with a selection of essays responding to Amin’s final message for today’s anti-systemic movements.
This forum is being co-published between Globalizations, the Journal of World-Systems Research,
and Pambazuka News. Readers can find additional essays and commentary in these outlets. The
following essay has been published in Globalizations and is being reproduced here with permission.
http://www.library.pitt.edu/
http://www.library.pitt.edu/
http://www.library.pitt.edu/
http://www.pitt.edu/
http://www.pitt.edu/
http://www.pitt.edu/
http://www.library.pitt.edu/articles/digpubtype/index.html
http://www.library.pitt.edu/articles/digpubtype/index.html
http://www.library.pitt.edu/articles/digpubtype/index.html
http://upress.pitt.edu/
http://upress.pitt.edu/
mailto:rlalvarez@nmhu.edu
mailto:rlalvarez@nmhu.edu
mailto:chriscd@ucr.edu
mailto:chriscd@ucr.edu
https://www.pambazuka.org/global-south/letter-intent-inaugural-meeting-international-workers-and-peoples
https://www.pambazuka.org/global-south/letter-intent-inaugural-meeting-international-workers-and-peoples
https://www.pambazuka.org/global-south/letter-intent-inaugural-meeting-international-workers-and-peoples
https://www.pambazuka.org/global-south/letter-intent-inaugural-meeting-international-workers-and-peoples
https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rglo
https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rglo
http://jwsr.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/jwsr/issue/view/75
http://jwsr.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/jwsr/issue/view/75
https://www.pambazuka.org/
https://www.pambazuka.org/
https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rglo
https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rglo
Journal of World-Systems Research | Vol. 25 Issue 2 | Alvarez & Dunn
jwsr.pitt.edu | DOI 10.5195/JWSR.2019.947
346
hierarchical human societies over the past millennia. A long-run historical and global perspective
is helpful for comprehending the current moment and for devising political strategies that can help
mitigate the problems that must be addressed in the 21st century so that humanity can move toward
a more just, peaceful and sustainable global future. The contemporary world-system is entering
another era that is similar in many ways to the “age of extremes” that occurred in the first half of
the 20th century (Hobsbawm 1994). Devising a helpful political strategy for the Global Left
requires that we understand the similarities and differences between the current period and the first
half of the 20th century. It also requires that we understand the cultures of the movements and
counter-movements that have emerged in the last few decades, as well as their structural
organizations, which are critical for movement success. The current period is daunting and
dangerous, but it is also a period of great opportunity for moving humanity toward a qualitatively
different and improved world society.1
The Global Social Justice Movement and the World Social Forum Process
The global social justice movement that emerged beginning in the 1990s with the regional
successes of the Zapatistas in Southern Mexico formed in response to the neoliberal globalization
project. The Pink Tide that followed was the advent of leftist-populist political regimes in most
Latin American countries based on movements against the neoliberal structural adjustment
programs promoted by the International Monetary Fund (Chase-Dunn et al 2015). In 2001 the
World Social Forum (WSF) was founded as a reaction to the exclusivity of the neoliberal World
Economic Forum. Its purpose was to provide a global venue for popular progressive movements
that were opposed to the neoliberal globalization project. The founding conferences were held in
Porto Alegre, Brazil with the support of the Brazilian Workers Party who had just won the
presidency under the leadership of Ignacio de Lula Silva, a former auto worker. The WSF adopted
the slogan “Another World Is Possible” to counter Margaret Thatcher’s claim that there was no
alternative to neoliberal globalization. The WSF held most of its global meetings in the Global
South2 but also sponsored important local and national meetings in all the world regions. This was
an important venue for the emerging New Global Left and the global justice movement, but it did
not include all of the movements of the Left (see below). It was intended to be a venue for activists
from grass roots social movements to collaborate with one another.
The social forum process eventually spread to most regions of the world. Just a few months
after the first annual event in 2001, the World Social Forum’s International Council approved a
1 This is an update of an earlier essay that reviewed the sociological literature on coalition formation, the history of
united and popular fronts in the 20th century, and considered which of the central tendencies of the new global left
might be in contention for providing leadership and integration of the network of anti-systemic movements that have
been participating in the World Social Forum process (Chase-Dunn, Stäbler, Breckenridge-Jackson and Herrera 2014)
2 The terminology of the world-system perspective divides the Global South into the periphery and the semiperiphery.
This turns out to be an important distinction for comprehending political developments in the Global South. Activists
from the semiperiphery have been far more likely to participate in the Social Forum process, and activists from the
periphery have been much more critical of international political organizations than those from either the Global North
or the semiperiphery (Chase-Dunn et al 2008)
Journal of World-Systems Research | Vol. 25 Issue 2 | Samir Amin’s New International
jwsr.pitt.edu | DOI 10.5195/JWSR.2019.947
347
14-item Charter of Principles. It identified the intended use of the forum space by “groups and
movements of civil society that are opposed to neo-liberalism and to domination of the world by
capital and any form of imperialism” (World Social Forum Charter of Principles, 2001). The
Charter did not permit participation by those who wanted to attend as representatives of
organizations that were engaged in, or that advocated, armed struggle. Nor were governments,
political parties or churches supposed to send representatives to the meetings. There was a great
emphasis on diversity and on horizontal, as opposed to hierarchical, forms of organization. The
use of the Internet for communication and mobilization made it possible for broad coalitions and
loosely knit networks of grass roots movement activists to engage in collective action projects.
The participants in the social forum process engaged in a manifesto/charter-writing frenzy as
those who sought a more organized approach to confronting global capitalism and neoliberalism
attempted to formulate consensual goals and to put workable coalitions together
(Wallerstein 2007).
One issue that was debated was whether the World Social Forum should itself formulate a
political program and take formal stances on issues. A survey of 625 attendees at the World Social
Forum meeting in Porto Alegre, Brazil in 2005 asked whether the WSF should remain an open
space or should take political stances. Almost exactly half of the respondents favored the open
space idea (Chase-Dunn, Reese, Herkenrath, Giem, Gutierrez and Kim 2008). Thus, trying to
change the WSF Charter to allow for a formal political program would have been very divisive.
But this was deemed not to be necessary. The WSF Charter also encouraged the formation of
new political organizations. Those participants who wanted to form new coalitions and
organizations were free to act, as long as they did not do so in the name of the WSF as a whole.
The Assembly of Social Movements and other groups issued calls for global action and political
manifestoes in Social Forum meetings at the both the global and national levels. Meeting in
Bamako, Mali in 2006 a group of participants issued a manifesto entitled “the Bamako Appeal” at
the beginning of the meeting. The Bamako Appeal was a call for a global united front against
neoliberalism and United States neo-imperialism (see Sen et al. 2007). Samir Amin, the famous
Marxist economist and co-founder of the world-system perspective (along with Immanuel
Wallerstein, Andre Gunder Frank and Giovanni Arrighi), wrote a short essay entitled “Toward a
fifth international?” in which he briefly outlined the history of the first four internationals (Amin
2008).3 Peter Waterman (2006) proposed a “global labor charter” and a coalition of women’s
groups meeting at the World Social Forum produced a feminist global manifesto that tried to
overcome divisive North/South issues (Moghadam 2005, 2019).4
There has always been a tension within the global left regarding antiglobalization versus the
idea of an alternative progressive form of globalization. Samir Amin (1990) and Waldon Bello
(2002) are important socialist advocates of deglobalization and delinking of the Global South from
3 This was an early version of the call that this forum is addressing.
4 Waterman (2010) also criticized the vanguardism of the Bamako Appeal and other proposals for a new
internationalism and championed the movement of movements structure of the global justice forces.
Journal of World-Systems Research | Vol. 25 Issue 2 | Alvarez & Dunn
jwsr.pitt.edu | DOI 10.5195/JWSR.2019.947
348
the Global North in order to protect against neo-imperialism and to make possible self-reliant and
egalitarian development. Alter-globalization advocates an egalitarian world society that is
integrated but without exploitation and domination. The alter-globalization project has been
studied and articulated by Geoffrey Pleyers (2011) as an “uneasy convergence” of largely
horizontalist autonomous and independent activist groups and more institutionalist actors like
intellectuals and NGOs. In our proposal for a way forward for the Global Left we advocate
combining horizontalism and capable coordination in an instrument that can support and defend
egalitarian projects and communities and struggle effectively against the power of reactionary
states, firms and populist movements.
The Culture of the World Revolution of 20xx
There was an impasse in the global justice movement between those who wanted to move
toward a global united front that could mobilize a strong coalition against the powers that be, and
those who preferred local prefigurative horizontalist actions and horizontalist network forms of
organization that renounce organizational hierarchy and refuse to participate in “normal” political
activities such as elections and lobbying. Prefigurationism is the idea that small groups can
intentionally organize social relations in ways that can provide the seeds of transformation to a
more desirable form of future human society. Horizontalism abjures hierarchy in organizations. It
was inspired by Robert Michels’s (1968 [1915]) observation that all organizations eventually
become conservative because the leadership ends up mainly trying to defend their own interests
and the survival of the organization. The natural history of parties and social movement
organizations is to adapt to the existing exigencies of the world-system by giving up on
revolutionary aspirations.
These horizontalist political stances had been inherited from the anti-authoritarian and anti-
bureaucratic New Left movements of the world revolution of 1968. The New Left of 1968
embraced direct democracy, attacked bureaucratic organizations and was resistant to the building
of new formal organizations that could act as instruments of revolution (Arrighi, Hopkins
and Wallerstein 1989 [2012]). Institutions that had been instruments of revolutionary change and
challengers to existing power structures were thought to have become sclerotic defenders of the
status quo when they got old.
This resistance to institutionalized politics and contention for state power has also been a
salient feature of the world revolution taking place today. It is based on a critique of the practices
of earlier world revolutions in which labor unions and political parties became bogged down in
short-term and self-interested struggles that were seen to have reinforced and reproduced the global
capitalism and the interstate system. This rejection of formal organization is reflected in the charter
of the World Social Forum as discussed above. And the same elements were strongly present in
the Occupy movement as well as in most of the popular revolts of the Arab Spring (Mason 2013).
Journal of World-Systems Research | Vol. 25 Issue 2 | Samir Amin’s New International
jwsr.pitt.edu | DOI 10.5195/JWSR.2019.947
349
Paul Mason’s5 (2013) analysis contends that the social structural basis for horizontalism and
anti-formal organization, beyond the disappointment with the outcomes of the struggles carried
out by the Old Left, was due to the presence of a large number of middle-class students as activists
in the movements. The world revolution of 19686 was led mainly by college students who had
emerged on the world stage with the global expansion of higher education since World War II.
John W. Meyer (2009) explained the student revolt and the subsequent lowering of the voting age
as another extension of citizenship to new and politically unincorporated groups demanding to be
included, analogous to the earlier revolts and incorporations of men of no property and women.
Mason points out the similarities (and differences) with the world revolution of 1848, in
which many of the activists were educated but underemployed students. He also argues that the
composition of participation in the current world revolution has been heavily composed of highly
educated young people who are facing the strong likelihood that they will not be able to find jobs
commensurate with their skills and certification levels. Many of these “graduates with no future”
have gone into debt to finance their educations, and they are alienated from politics as usual and
enraged by the failure of global capitalism to continue the expansion of middle-class jobs. These
graduates can be considered part of Guy Standing’s (2014) “precariat,” as they are increasingly
forced to participate in the gig economy with little hope of future stable employment. Highly
educated young people share an uncertain economic future with poor workers across the globe
which could produce a transnational alliance of globalized precariats. Mason also points out that
the urban poor, especially in the Global South, and workers in the Global North whose livelihoods
have been attacked by globalization were important elements in the revolts that occurred in the
Middle East, Spain, Greece and Turkey. Mason also stresses the importance of the Internet and
social media for allowing disaffected young people to organize and coordinate large protests. He
sees the “freedom to tweet” as an important element in a new level of individual freedom that has
been an important driver of these middle-class graduates who enjoy confronting the powers-that-
be in mass demonstrations. This new individual freedom is cited as another reason why the activists
in the global justice movement have been reticent to develop their own organizations and to
participate in legitimate forms of political activity such as electoral politics.
But Mason and other participant/observers in the global justice movement somewhat
overemphasize the extent to which the movement has been incoherent regarding goals and shared
perspectives. Surveys of attendees at both world-level and national-level Social Forums have
found a relatively stable multicentric network of movement themes in which a set of more central
5 Paul Mason is a 59-year-old British journalist who is well-known to scholars of transnational social movements for
his perceptive ethnographic coverage of the global justice movement (Mason 2013). Mason is a former Trotskyist
who is active in the British Labor Party. Mason is an intrepid protagonist of the precariat with a solid grounding in
the history of progressive movements and ideas and political economy.
6 World revolutions are named after a symbolic year in which important events occurred that characterize the nature
of the constellation of the rebellions designated: 1789, 1917, 1968 and now 20xx because it is still too soon to name
the current world revolution.
Journal of World-Systems Research | Vol. 25 Issue 2 | Alvarez & Dunn
jwsr.pitt.edu | DOI 10.5195/JWSR.2019.947
350
movements serve as links to all the other movements based on the reported identification of
activists with movements (Chase-Dunn and Kaneshiro 2009). All the twenty-seven movement
themes used in the surveys were connected to the larger network by means of co-activism, so there
was a single linked network without subcliques (Chase-Dunn and Kaneshiro 2009 Figures 1-3).
This multicentric network was quite stable across venues.7 This suggests that there has been a
fairly similar structure of network connections among movements that is global in scope and that
the global-level network of movements is also very similar to the network that exists among Social
Forum activists from grassroots movements within the U.S. (Chase-Dunn, Fenelon, Hall,
Breckenridge-Jackson and Herrera 2019). The central cluster of movement themes to which all
the other movements were linked included human rights; anti-racism; environmentalism,
feminism, peace/anti-war, anti-corporate and alternative globalization.
Whereas the Global Left contained both anti-globalizationists who advocated greater local
autonomy (Amin 1990 and Bello 2002) as well as those who favored an alternative and more
egalitarian form of globalization (Pleyers 2011); the whole issue of anti-globalization has taken a
turn with the rise of right wing populism and hypernationalism supported to a great extent by some
who were losers in the neoliberal globalization project.
Justice Globalism as a Discourse
An organizational structure that can gain the allegiance of large numbers of activists,
especially young ones, will need to consider the culture of the Global Left that has emerged since
the World Revolution of 1968 by reviewing the findings of two careful studies.
Manfred Steger, James Goodman and Erin K. Wilson (2013) presented the results of a
systematic study of the political ideas employed by forty-five NGOs and social movement
organizations associated with the International Council of the World Social Forum. Using a
modified form of morphological discourse analysis developed by Michael Freeden (2003) for
studying political ideologies, Steger, Goodman and Wilson analyzed texts (web sites, press
releases and declarations) and conducted interviews to examine the key concepts, secondary
concepts and overall coherence of the political ideas expressed by these organizations as
proponents of “justice globalism”.
7 The surveys were conducted at Social Forum meetings in Porto Alegre, Brazil in 2005, Nairobi, Kenya and Atlanta,
Georgia in 2007 and Detroit, Michigan in 2010.
Journal of World-Systems Research | Vol. 25 Issue 2 | Samir Amin’s New International
jwsr.pitt.edu | DOI 10.5195/JWSR.2019.947
351
The key concepts of justice globalism extracted by Steger et al. are:
• participatory democracy,
• transformative rather than incremental change,
• equality of access to resources and opportunities,
• social justice,
• universal human rights,
• global solidarity among workers, farmers and marginalized peoples, and
• ecological sustainability (2013: Table 2.1 pp. 28-29)
More detailed meanings of each of these concepts have emerged in an on-going dialectical
struggle with market globalism (neoliberalism). Steger et al discuss each of these and evaluate
how much consensus exists across the forty-five movement organizations they studied. They find
a large degree of consensus, but their results also reveal a lot of on-going contestation among the
activists in these organizations regarding the definitions and applications of these concepts.
For example, though most of the organizations seem to favor one or another form of
participatory democracy, there was awareness of some of the problems produced by an
overemphasis on horizontalist processes of participation and on-going debates about forms of
representation and delegation.
Some of the organizations studied by Steger et al eschew participation in established electoral
processes, while others do not. Steger et al highlight the importance of “multiplicity” as an
approach that values diversity rather than trying to find “one size fits all” solutions. They note that
the Charter of the World Social Forum values inclusivity and the welcoming and empowerment of
marginalized groups. Prefiguration has found wide support from most global justice activists
social movement organizations. The Zapatistas, the occupy activists and many in the
environmental movement have engaged in efforts to construct more egalitarian and sustainable
local institutions and communities rather than mounting organized challenges to the global and
national structures of power. The discussion of global solidarity in Steger et al emphasizes the
centrality of what Ruth Reitan (2007) has called “altruistic solidarity” – identification with poor
and marginalized peoples – without much consideration of solidarity based on common
circumstances or identities. Steger et al do, however, mention the important efforts to link groups
that are operating at both local and global levels of contention.8
The Steger et al. study is a useful example of how to do research on political ideology and it
provides valuable evidence about ideational stances and culture of the New Global Left. It and
8 While human rights is a very central movement theme in the network of movement of global justice movements, the
indigenist rights movement contests the version of human rights that is enshrined in the United Nations Universal
Declaration of Human Rights of 1948. The indigenistas stress the importance of community rights over the rights of
individuals and the idea that “Mother Earth” has rights.8 These contentions have been shared by the many activists
who sympathize with, and identify with, indigenous peoples ((Chase-Dunn, Fenelon, Hall, Breckenridge-Jackson and
Herrera 2019).
Journal of World-Systems Research | Vol. 25 Issue 2 | Alvarez & Dunn
jwsr.pitt.edu | DOI 10.5195/JWSR.2019.947
352
the movement network results summarized above imply that the New Global Left has a degree of
coherence that can be the basis of greater articulation.
Transnational Alternative Policy Think-Tanks
William Carroll’s (2016) thorough study of global justice transnational alternative policy
groups examined the problem of how to build a transnational counter-hegemonic bloc of
progressive social forces (Carroll 2016: 23). Carroll’s study examined sixteen progressive
transnational think-tanks from both the Global North and the Global South.9 Carroll’s results agree
with the findings of the Steger et al study summarized above regarding the discursive content of
the global justice movement. Carroll also notes that the progressive counter-hegemonic think tanks
that he has studied have been trying to produce knowledge that is useful for prefigurative social
change and a democratic and egalitarian forms of globalization in contrast to the neoliberal
globalization project. Carroll critiques localist and anti-organizational approaches and proposes:
counter-hegemonic globalization: “a globally organized project of transformation aimed at
replacing the dominant global regime with one that maximizes democratic political control and
makes the equitable development of human capabilities and environmental stewardship its
priorities (Carroll 2016: 30).
Arab Spring, Pink Tide, Neo-fascism and Structural Deglobalization
The global political, economic, and demographic situation has evolved in ways that challenge
some of the assumptions that were made during the rise of the global justice movement and that
require adjustments in the analyses, strategies, and tactics of progressive social movements. The
Arab Spring, the Latin American Pink Tide, the Indignados in Spain, and the rise of New Leftist
social media-based parties in Spain (Podemos) Italy and in Greece and the spike in mass protests
in 2011 and 2012 were interpreted as the heating up of a world revolution against neoliberal
globalization that had started in the late 20th century with the rise of the Zapatistas (Chase-Dunn,
Stäbler, Breckenridge-Jackson and Herrera 2014). But the outcomes of some of these movements
have brought the tactics of the global justice movement into question. The left-wing Syriza Party,
elected in Greece in 2015, was a debacle that was crushed by the European banks and the EU.
They doubled down on austerity, threatening to bankrupt the pensioners of Greece unless the
Syriza regime agreed to new structural adjustment policies, which it did. This was a case in which
another world was possible but did not happen. This disappointment was felt by the other new
leftist social media parties in Italy and Spain as well as the global justice movement and the Social
Forum process.
The huge spike in global protests in 2011-2012 was followed by a lull and then a renewed
intensification of citizen revolts from 2015-2016 (Youngs 2017). The Black Lives Matter
movement, the Dakota Access Pipeline protest, the #MeToo movement, the global Women’s
9 Some well-known examples are the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, the Third World Forum, the Centre for Civil
Society, Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era and Focus on the Global South.
Journal of World-Systems Research | Vol. 25 Issue 2 | Samir Amin’s New International
jwsr.pitt.edu | DOI 10.5195/JWSR.2019.947
353
Marches and the Antifa rising against neo-fascism showed that the World Revolution of 20xx was
still happening. However, the mainly tragic outcomes of the Arab Spring and the decline of the
Pink Tide progressive populist regimes in Latin America were bad blows for the global left.
The Social Forum process was late in coming to the Middle East and North Africa, but it
eventually did arrive. The Arab Spring movements in the Middle East and North Africa were
mainly rebellions of progressive students and young people using social media to mobilize mass
protests against aging authoritarian regimes. The outcome in Tunisia, where the sequence of
protests started, has been fairly good thus far. But the outcomes in Egypt, Syria and Bahrein were
disasters (Moghadam 2018).10 Turkey and Iran should also be added to this list. The mass popular
movements calling for democracy were defeated by Islamist movements that were better organized
and by military coups and/or outside intervention. In Syria, parts of the movement were able to
organize an armed struggle, but this was defeated by the old regime with Russian help. Extremist
Muslim fundamentalists took over the fight from progressivists, and the Syrian civil war produced
a huge wave of refugees that combined with economic migrants from Africa to cross the
Mediterranean Sea to Europe. This added fuel to the already existing populist nationalist
movements and political parties in Europe, propelling electoral victories inspired by xenophobic
and racist anti-immigrant sentiment. In Iran, the green movement was repressed. In Turkey,
Erdogan has prevailed, repressing the popular movement as well as the Kurds. All these
developments, except Tunisia, have been major setbacks for the global left.
Right-wing populist politicians have exploited cleavages along cultural lines, rallying
individuals against foreigners and minorities. Left-wing populist movements, on the other hand
tended to garner support based on economic cleavages. They pointed to the wealthy 1% and large
corporations as responsible for the economic crises and austerity policies of the 21st century
(Rodrik 2018). Thus, the neoliberal globalization project and the crises of late global capitalism
have produced increasing political polarization as the context in which the New Global Left needs
to reconsider its culture and attitudes toward organizational issues.
The unhappy outcome of the Arab Spring, the demise of the Pink Tide, the rise of populist
right-wing and neo-fascist movements and parties and the possible arrival of another period of
deglobalization are developments that suggest that the global left needs to devise strategies that
can be more effective in confronting the crises of global capitalism and building a more egalitarian,
democratic and sustainable world society. But this project also needs to be cognizant of the
contemporary culture of the global left.
10 Val Moghadam (2018) shows how gender relations and women's mobilizations prior to the protest outbreaks, along
with differences in political institutions, civil society and international influences, explain most of the variance in the
different outcomes of the Arab Spring.
Journal of World-Systems Research | Vol. 25 Issue 2 | Alvarez & Dunn
jwsr.pitt.edu | DOI 10.5195/JWSR.2019.947
354
The Vessel11: Forging a Diagonal Instrument for the Global Left
A new discourse has emerged in the past few years regarding possibilities for greater
articulation among the movements of the global left and around the ideas of united fronts and
popular fronts and new forms of organization. The tendency of progressive social movements to
form around single issues and identity politics is increasingly seen as a problem that stands in the
way of mobilizing more effectively to both allow people to construct more egalitarian and
sustainable projects and communities and to become a significant and consequential player in
world politics. This has been recognized and addressed in different ways by both activists and
political theorists for the last twenty years. John Sanbonmatsu’s (2004) defense of a global
counter-hegemonic project of the Left locates the roots of horizontalism and the celebration of
diversity in the rise of the new social movements and postmodern philosophy in the years
following the world revolution of 1968. He contends that the post-modern emphasis on differences
and diversity undercuts the ability of progressive forces to join together to struggle for social
change. Post-modern critical sociology was a somewhat understandable reaction against Stalinism
and the primary focus on workers’ parties taking state power that was the modis operandi of the
Old Left. But neo-Leninists such as Jodi Dean (2012, 2016) have pointed out the limitations of
leaderless mass protests as a method for producing political change. Zeinab Tufeki’s (2017) study
of movements that have been enabled by social networking notes their fragility and susceptibility
to disruption. Greg Sharzer (2012, 2017) recounts the fate of utopian communities over the past
two centuries that are usually either die out for become reincorporated back in to capitalist business
as usual.
Samir Amin (2008, 2018) proposed a new progressive international to serve as an instrument
for the global justice movement in world politics. His proposed fifth international invokes the
memory of the earlier socialist and communist internationals, raising fears of vanguardism among
the horizontalists. But the organizational and issue foci of Amin’s proposal have elements that are
different from earlier internationals. The fifth international is an alliance of national entities but it
would permit participation from more than one legitimate group per country. Amin’s differs from
many other global justice activists in seeing national progressive projects as the most important
arena of struggle, raising the issue of the content of progressive nationalism.
The World Social Forum held in Salvador, Brazil in 2018 focused on how the Social Forum
process could be reinvented to more effectively confront the rise of right-wing forces (Mestrum
2017, 2018). The demise of the U.S. and European Social Forums may mean that the Social Forum
process is winding down. If that is the case the question is: What can replace and improve upon
the Social Forum? Given the numerous competing interest groups, all with legitimate claims, the
puzzle is how to unite them in a global social justice movement that is inclusive but that also
focusses on the main problems confronting humanity in the 21st century.
11 The instrument should be named by those who do the work to create it. Our suggestion of “Vessel” is meant to be
inclusive and diagonal. Others have suggested the Fifth International (Amin 2008), an International of Workers and
Peoples (Amin 2018); the Postmodern Prince (Gill 2000; Sonbonmatsu 2004) and the World Party (Wagar 1999).
Journal of World-Systems Research | Vol. 25 Issue 2 | Samir Amin’s New International
jwsr.pitt.edu | DOI 10.5195/JWSR.2019.947
355
An integrated political movement would need to “name the enemy” (Starr 2000). The global
right has been effective in large part because it has constructed its own enemies as “the globalists,”
“the establishment” and “immigrants.” A capacious global social justice movement will need to
name the predations of the transnational corporate class and the neo-fascist and populist Global
Right as enemies and to make evident the connections between these enemies and the oppression
and exploitation of the majority of the human population of both the Global South and the Global
North.
The Amin and Dean versions of neo-Leninism differ in some respects regarding their notions
of agency. Amin was a Third Worldist who saw the workers and peasants of the Global South as
the main agents of progressive social change. Dean is more of a workerist who thinks that
organized workers led by dedicated communists from the Global North and the Global South can
unite to transform global capitalism. While Dean is enthused by the affective spirit shown by
crowds in 2011, she contends that an organized party will be necessary to mobilize a progressive
transformation of global capitalism. She says “That perspective which gives body to the political
subject is the party” (Dean 2016: 19). Neither Dean nor Amin directly address the issue of
vanguardism that was one of Lenin’s most important contributions to the methodology and strategy
of the communist movement.12 Amin is sensitive to the charge of vanguardism, but contends that
there are statutory structures that can be used ensure democratic control of a global political party.
Amin (2018) says
“The aim should be to establish an Organization (the new Internationale) and not
just a ‘movement’. This involves moving beyond the concept of a discussion forum.
It also involves analysing the inadequacies of the notion, still prevalent, that the
‘movements’ claim to be horizontal and are hostile to so-called vertical
organizations on the pretext that the latter are by their very nature anti-
democratic: that the organization is, in fact, the result of action which by itself
generates ‘leaders’. The latter can aspire to dominate, even manipulate the
movements. But it is also possible to avoid this danger through appropriate
statutes. This should be discussed.”
We agree with Amin and Dean that the anti-organizational ideologies that have been a salient
part of the culture of progressive movements since 1968 have been a major fetter restricting the
capability of these movements to effectively realize their own goals. But these ideas and sentiments
run deep and so any effort to construct organizational forms that can facilitate progressive
collective action must be cognizant of this embedded culture. The Internet and social media,
allowing cheap and effective mass communications, have been blamed for producing specialized
single-issue movements. We suggest that virtual communications and democratic decision-making
12 In “What Is to Be Done (Lenin 1902) Lenin proposed that a dedicated cadre of professional revolutionaries was
needed to lead the workers beyond trade unionism.
Journal of World-Systems Research | Vol. 25 Issue 2 | Alvarez & Dunn
jwsr.pitt.edu | DOI 10.5195/JWSR.2019.947
356
technologies can be harnessed to produce more sustained and integrated organizations and
effective tools that can be used to contend for power in the streets and institutional halls of the
world-system. We also think that the old reformist/revolutionary debate about whether to engage
in electoral politics is a fetter on the ability of the global left to effectively contend.13 We agree
that changing the policies of states or taking power in them should not be the only goals of
progressive social movements. States are not, and have never been, whole systems. They are
organizations that exist in a larger world economy and interstate system. And while they should
not be the sole target of progressive movements, their organizational resources can be used to
facilitate the building of a postcapitalist global society. The autonomists correctly perceive that
dependence on state resources and support, as well as on funding from mainstream foundations,
often compromise the integrity and flexibility of social movement organizations in their ability to
challenge existing power structures. But progressive transnational social movements should be
prepared to work with progressive state governments in order to try to change the rules of the
global economic order (Evans 2009; 2010).14 If social movement organizations become part of the
problem rather than part of the solution new less dependent and compromised social movement
organizations can take up the struggle. A multilevel movement of movements is needed that
promotes within-country regions, national, world regions, global North, global South and whole
global (Earth-wide) levels of organization and empowers all of them without unduly empowering
the national level.
Progressive transnational social movements should also be willing to work at the local level
with city governments to implement progressive goals such as a universal basic income, as these
cities can then serve as progressive examples (Wright 2010; Lowrey 2018; Van Parijs and
Vanderborght 2017). This includes learning from cities in the Global South and applying lessons
learned in the Global North. For instance, a universal basic income has been piloted in the twenty-
first century in Kenya and Brazil and is now being introduced in Stockton (California) and
Chicago. While there is a legitimate critique that a nonlivable universal basic income that is used
to supplement work is subject to control and thus potentially exploitative, a livable basic income
which comes in addition to the social safety net instead of replacing it can be a radical tool for the
redistribution and sharing of wealth. We agree with Paul Mason (2015) that the anti-utopianism of
the Old Left and some in the New Left was somewhat misplaced. 15 Prefiguration is a good idea.
Sharing networks, coops, community banks, zero emissions homes, farms and industries are
13 In November of 2018 Bernie Sanders and Yanis Varoufakis issued a call for a Progressive International to unite
against the rise of neo-fascist and right-wing populist parties (Progressive International 2018).
14 Paul Mason rightly contends that state organizations will be needed for dealing with the daunting global problems
of the 21st century. The traditional and neo-anarchist rejection of all states as necessarily instruments of oppression
obscures the extent to which states sometimes be democratic and can be instruments of the oppressed rather than of
the oppressors. Marc Fleurbaey’s (2018) concept of the possibility of an “emancipatory state” is a helpful move in the
right direction.
15 We doubt that Mason’s (2015) transitional program to postcapitalism, a global society in which wage labor has
been replaced by the provision of free goods produced by networked machines, is a possibility for the next few
decades, but we agree that this is a desirable goal for humanity.
Journal of World-Systems Research | Vol. 25 Issue 2 | Samir Amin’s New International
jwsr.pitt.edu | DOI 10.5195/JWSR.2019.947
357
worthwhile endeavors for activists of the global left (Wallerstein 1998). But these local projects
need to be linked and coordinated so that they can effectively contend in national and world
politics. Explaining how to structure such a progressive international effectively requires an
understanding of horizontalism, verticalism, and our proposed synthesis, found in diagonalism.
Only then can a party network (partnet) be strong and yet flexible enough to withstand the
challenges of global organizing be constructed.
Diagonal Organizational Structure
The idea of leaderless movements and organizations is an anarchist trope that has been
critiqued by both Marxists (Epstein 2001) and feminists (Freeman 1972-73). Political
organizations need to have institutionalized procedures for making decisions and ways to hold
leadership accountable so that mistakes can be rectified. These requisites are not so important
when the world-system is humming along with business as usual, but when systemic crises erupt,
and powerful popular right-wing social movements and regimes emerge, leaderlessness becomes
an unacceptable luxury. An alternative to Leninist “march-in-line” must be found. While the
culture of the contemporary global left usually equates the idea of a political party with vanguard
parties or electoral machines, there is a recent literature that argues that new forms of party
organization are possible in the age of internet communication (Dean 2012, 2016; Carroll 2015).
Wiki farms16 facilitate the formation of virtual organizations that combine the merits of open
networks with leadership structures (data stewards) that allow groups to collectively author
documents and to make group decisions. Horizontalism valorizes leaderlessness and informality,
usually paired with consensual decision-making. Horizontalist organizations, also called “self-
organization” (Prehofer et al 2005) have several advantages: resilience (you can kill some of them
but there is redundancy), flexibility and adaptability, individual entities interact directly with one
another, and there is no larger hierarchy that can be disrupted. These desirable characteristics are
those that are stressed by advocates of horizontalist networks. But critics of horizontality point
out that structurelessness does not prevent the emergence of informal structures among groups of
friends, and participants that are not linked to these friendship nets have no mechanisms for
regulating the power of the informal networks (Freeman 1972-73).
Diagonalism combines horizontalism with a semi-centralized formal organizational structure
that is itself democratic and flexible.17 A diagonal organization is a complex of horizontally
connected individuals, small groups and larger regional organizations with a decision-making
structure by which groups can discuss and adopt policies and implement them. Hierarchies are as
flat as is possible consistent with organizational capacity and composite groups may report to more
16 A wiki farm is a collection of wikis running on the same web server and sharing one parent wiki engine.
17 Keith Hayson (2014:48-520) outlines an agenda for building an organizational diagonalism that is intended to
produce a useful compromise between anarchistic horizontalism and organizational hierarchy that makes leadership
and accountability possible.
Journal of World-Systems Research | Vol. 25 Issue 2 | Alvarez & Dunn
jwsr.pitt.edu | DOI 10.5195/JWSR.2019.947
358
than one leadership group.18 Leadership is rotational and maximizes opportunities for participatory
democracy. Organizational bureaucracy is kept to a minimum, but legitimate representatives or
delegates from horizontal groups make collective decisions and help to formulate policies and plan
actions for the whole organization. Degrees of hierarchy can be flexible depending upon the nature
of the task. High stakes, high risk tasks usually require more hierarchy. Local groups can adjust
their organizational structures to the context and the nature of the task. The Vessel itself should
maintain democratic and flexible decision-making and implementation structures.
The Vessel is a diagonal network formed of project affinity groups and local communities
that share the results of their experiments and constructions and coordinate with one another for
political actions, including mass demonstrations, electoral campaigns and mobilizations of support
and contention. Diagonalism links horizontal networks of individuals and groups with a legitimate
leadership structure composed of designated delegates who are empowered to carry out the
decisions of the organization that appoint them. Delegates make group decisions by means of both
consensus and voting. Multiple organizations can represent communities and nations. The Council
of the Vessel will be a compromise between horizontal leaderless and hierarchical command
structures in which leadership is held by delegated individuals or groups. The Vessel will focus on
the articulation of central issues and will formulate visions, strategies and tactics for the global
left. It will promote communication and collaboration among transnational, national and local
projects.19 The Vessel should not be a political party in the old sense, but it should be allowed,
unlike the World Social Forum, to adopt resolutions and to support candidates and campaigns. It
should have a designated structure composed of a chosen facilitating delegate council to coordinate
collective decision-making and to deal with problems of security and communications.20 Existing
progressive global organizations should be encouraged to join. Functions of the vessel and
member organizations will vary depending upon circumstances, but the vessel level should
specialize in the politics of international organizations and global issues, whereas the local,
national and world regional organizations can focus on those issues which are salient in their
contexts.
18 In management theory control structures with multiple reporting lines are called matrix organizations (Gottleib
2007)
19 Digital organizations and the discourse on net governance make new forms of network organizations possible.
Organizations need to be able to make decisions. This can be done hierarchically or by means of group voting or
discussions, or various combinations of these. The Vessel will recognize both horizontal authority structures and allow
subgroups to adopt the structures that they need. Organizations also need to specify their boundaries and protect
themselves against those who would like to disrupt them, or worse. These jobs are best done by all active members,
but it may be found necessary to delegate security jobs to individuals or subgroups. The best practices can be developed
as things progress.
20 Forging the Vessel should be started at a meeting held under the auspices of the World Social Forum in 2019 or
2020.
Journal of World-Systems Research | Vol. 25 Issue 2 | Samir Amin’s New International
jwsr.pitt.edu | DOI 10.5195/JWSR.2019.947
359
Issues
The main issues that we think should constitute the focus of the Vessel are:
• Climate justice
• Human rights
• Anti-racism, decolonization, and indigenous rights
• Feminism and queer rights
• Sharing networks
• Peace/anti-war alliances
• Local and city-based progressive grassroots activism
• Anticorporate transnationalism (tax justice, etc.)
• Democratic global governance
The Vessel should also coordinate efforts to combat 21st century fascism and right-wing
populism and should encouraged participation with and make alliances (united fronts; popular
fronts) with NGOs and political parties that are willing to collaborate with these efforts.21
Human rights and anti-racism have been central in the network of movements participating
in the social forum process. Global Indigenism (Hall and Fenelon 2009; Chase-Dunn et al 2019)
has been an increasingly important issue for the global left. The rights of colonized peoples, racial
and ethnic minorities, indigenous peoples, and queer people are central to the inclusive concerns
of the global left. The climate justice movement is already a collaborative project combining
environmentalists with those who focus on the most vulnerable communities (Bond 2012; Foran
2018; Foran, Gray and Grosse 2017). Feminism has been one of the central movements in the
social forum network of movements (Moghadam 2018). Sharing networks are a potentially potent
tool for organizing postcapitalist institutions that can transform the logic of global capitalism
(Mason 2013; Danaher and Gravitz 2017). The peace/antiwar movements need local and national
mobilization against militarism (Benjamin 2013) as well as engagement with international
governmental organizations in order to prevent the emergence of wars among core states in the
coming multipolar world. The existing international political organizations are under attack from
right-wing forces. The Vessel needs to advocate the strengthening and democratization of global
governance institutions that can help keep the peace as humanity passes through the coming
multipolar phase of interimperial rivalry and to move in the direction of an eventual democratic
and collectively rational form of global governance. Progressive nationalism is an important
defensive tactic against the appropriation of nationalism by the right-wing populists and neo-
fascists. The deglobalizing world is reinventing nationalism as a response to the crises produced
by the neoliberal globalization process. In many cases, this nationalism has verged into neo-
fascism. The global left has been resolutely cosmopolitan and internationalist, but how could it
engage the rising wave of nationalism to propose more cooperative relations with peoples abroad
21 This is list is a proposal for discussion. The development of a set of central issues should be among the first matters
of discussion at the forging meetings.
Journal of World-Systems Research | Vol. 25 Issue 2 | Alvarez & Dunn
jwsr.pitt.edu | DOI 10.5195/JWSR.2019.947
360
and with the Global South? The Vessel also needs to provide support help to formulate analyses
and strategies for movements at the local and national levels who are fighting against the rise of
right-wing authoritarianism and the suppression of progressive popular movements.
Conclusion
Rather than giving way to cynicism and resignation, the global left needs to face up to the
setbacks that have occurred and devise a new strategy for moving humanity in a better direction.
One possible solution lies in the approach taken by the organizers of DiEM25, a movement
organization that is already agitating for a progressive international. While at the moment it is
limited to European nations and North America (including Mexico), its diagonalist approach is
well-suited for a flexible organization that can take on the global right-wing movement and the
transnational capitalist class. The next few decades will be chaotic, but the movements and
institutions we build can make things better. Whether or not the big calamities all come at once or
sequentially, we need to pursue a strategy of “disaster postcapitalism”22 that plants the seeds of
the future during the chaos. It is not the end, just another dark age, and an opportunity for transition
to a much better world-system. The vessel can take us there.
About the Authors: Rebecca Álvarez is Assistant Professor of Sociology at New Mexico
Highlands University. She received her doctorate in 2011 from the University of California,
Riverside, where she became interested in global social movements and world-systems theory. Her
current work focuses on the relationships between women’s status and class inequality in a global
context. In particular, she is interested in the structural factors that precipitate gender-based mob
violence against women. She is the author of the forthcoming book Vigilante Gender Violence:
Class Inequality, the Gender Bargain, and Mob Attacks on Women Worldwide (Taylor & Francis,
2020). Christopher Chase-Dunn is a Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Director of the
Institute for Research on World-Systems at the University of California, Riverside, USA. He is
the author of The Spiral of Capitalism and Socialism (with Terry Boswell), Rise and Demise:
Comparing World-Systems (with Thomas D. Hall), and Social Change: Globalization from the
Stone Age to the Present (with Bruce Lerro). He is the founder and former editor of the Journal of
World-Systems Research. Chase-Dunn is currently doing research on transnational social
movements. He also studies the rise and fall of settlements and polities since the Stone Age and
global state formation.
Disclosure Statement: Any conflicts of interest are reported in the acknowledgments section of
the article’s text. Otherwise, authors have indicated that they have no conflict of interests upon
submission of the article to the journal.
22 This is a play on Naomi Klein’s (2007) idea of disaster capitalism.
Journal of World-Systems Research | Vol. 25 Issue 2 | Samir Amin’s New International
jwsr.pitt.edu | DOI 10.5195/JWSR.2019.947
361
References
Amin, Samir (1990). Delinking: Towards a Polycentric World. London: Zed Books.
______. (2008). “Towards the fifth international?” Pp. 123-143 in Kat Sehm-
Patomaki and Marko Ulvila (eds.) Global Political Parties. London: Zed Books.
______. (2018). “Letter of Intent for an Inaugural Meeting of the International of Workers
and Peoples” IDEAs network, July 3 http://www.networkideas.org/featured-articles/2018/07/it-
is-imperative-to-reconstruct-the-internationale-of-workers-and-peoples/
Arrighi, Giovanni, T. K. Hopkins and I. Wallerstein. (1989 [2012]). Antisystemic
Movements. London: Verso.
Bello, Walden (2002). Deglobalization. London: Zed Books.
Benjamin, Medea (2013). Drone Warfare. London: Verso.
Bond, Patrick (2012). The Politics of Climate Justice: Paralysis Above,
Movement Below. Durban, SA: University of Kwa-zulu Natal Press.
Carroll, William.K. (2015). "Modes of Cognitive Praxis in Transnational Alternative Policy
Groups." Globalizations 12(5):710-27. doi:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14747731.2014.1001231.
______. (2016). Expose, Oppose, Propose: Alternative Policy Groups and the Struggle for
Global Justice. New York: Zed.
Chase-Dunn, C. and E. Reese, M. Herkenrath, R. Giem, E. Gutierrez, L. Kim, and C. Petit.
(2008). “North-South Contradictions and Bridges at the World Social Forum” Pp. 341-
366 in R. Reuveny and W.R. Thompson (eds.) North and South in the World Political
Economy. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Chase-Dunn, C. and M. Kaneshiro. (2009). “Stability and Change in thecontours of Alliances
Among movements in the social forum process” Pp. 119-133 in
David Fasenfest (ed.) Engaging Social Justice. Leiden: Brill.
Chase-Dunn, C., A. Stäbler, I. Breckenridge-Jackson and J. Herrera. (2014). “Articulating the
Web of Transnational Social Movements” presented at the World Congress of Sociology in
Yokohama, July 17, 2014. http://irows.ucr.edu/papers/irows84/irows84.htm.
Chase-Dunn, C., A. Morosin and A. Álvarez. (2015). “Social Movements and Progressive
Regimes in Latin America: World Revolutions and Semiperipheral Development” Pp. 13-24
in P. Almeida and A. Cordero Ulate (eds.) Handbook of Social Movements across Latin
America, Dordrecht, NL: Springer.
Chase-Dunn, C., Peter Grimes and E.N. Anderson (2019). “Cyclical Evolution of the Global
Right” Special issue of the Canadian Sociological Review.
Chase-Dunn, C., James Fenelon, Thomas D. Hall, Ian Breckenridge-Jackson and Joel Herrera
2019. “Global Indigenism and the Web of Transnational Social Movements” Pp. xxxx in
Ino Rossi (ed.) 2019 New Frontiers of Globalization Research: Theories, Globalization
Processes, and Perspectives from the Global South Springer Verlag.
Danaher, Kevin. and A. Gravitz (eds.) (2017). The Green Festival Reader. London: Routledge.
Dean, Jodi (2012). The Communist Horizon. London: Verso.
http://www.networkideas.org/featured-articles/2018/07/it-is-imperative-to-reconstruct-the-internationale-of-workers-and-peoples/
http://www.networkideas.org/featured-articles/2018/07/it-is-imperative-to-reconstruct-the-internationale-of-workers-and-peoples/
http://www.networkideas.org/featured-articles/2018/07/it-is-imperative-to-reconstruct-the-internationale-of-workers-and-peoples/
http://www.networkideas.org/featured-articles/2018/07/it-is-imperative-to-reconstruct-the-internationale-of-workers-and-peoples/
http://irows.ucr.edu/papers/irows44/irows44.htm
http://irows.ucr.edu/papers/irows44/irows44.htm
http://irows.ucr.edu/papers/irows44/irows44.htm
http://irows.ucr.edu/papers/irows44/irows44.htm
http://irows.ucr.edu/papers/irows44/irows44.htm
http://irows.ucr.edu/papers/irows44/irows44.htm
http://irows.ucr.edu/papers/irows84/irows84.htm
http://irows.ucr.edu/papers/irows84/irows84.htm
Journal of World-Systems Research | Vol. 25 Issue 2 | Alvarez & Dunn
jwsr.pitt.edu | DOI 10.5195/JWSR.2019.947
362
______. (2016). Crowds and Party. London: Verso.
Epstein, B. (2001). “Anarchism and the anti-globalization movement.” Monthly Review 53(4): 1-
14.
Evans, Peter B. (2009). “From Situations of Dependency to Globalized Social Democracy.”
Studies in Comparative International Development 44: 318-336.
______. (2010). “Is it Labor’s Turn to Globalize? Twenty-first Century Opportunities and
Strategic Responses.” Global Labour Journal 1(3): 352-379.
Fleurbaey, Marc (with Olivier Bouin, Marie-Laure Djelic, Ravi Kanbur, Helga Nowotny and
Elisa Reis) (2018) A Manifesto for Social Progress. Ideas for A Better Society Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press).
Foran, John (2018). Taking or (re) Making Power? The New Movements for Radical Social
Change and Global Justice. London: Zed Books.
Foran, John, S. Gray, and C. Grosse. (2017). “’Not yet the end of the world’: Political cultures of
opposition and creation in the global youth climate justice movement.” Interface: a journal
for and about social movements 9(2): 353-379.Freeden, Michael (2003). Ideology: A Very
Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Freeman, Jo (1972-73). “The tyranny of structuralessness” Berkeley Journal of Sociology 17:
151-165.
Gill, Stephen 2000 “Toward a post-modern prince? : the battle of Seattle as a moment in the new
politics of globalization” Millennium 29,1: 131-140
Gottleib, Marvin R. (2007) The Matrix Organization Reloaded. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Hall, Thomas D. and J.V. Fenelon. (2009). Indigenous Peoples and Globalization: Resistance
and Revitalization. Boulder, CO: Paradigm Press.
Harvey, David (2012). Rebel cities: from the right to the city to the urban revolution. London:
Verso.
Hayson, Keith (2014). “A Brief for Diagonalism - A Dialectical Take on David Graeber's The
Democracy Project.” https://www.academia.edu/7289524/A_Brief_for_Diagonalism_-
_A_Dialectical_Take_on_David_Graebers_The_Democracy_Project
Klein, Naomi (2007). The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. New York; Henry
HoltHobsbawm, Eric J. (1994). The Age of Extremes: A History of the World, 1914-1991.
New York: Pantheon.
Hooks, Bell (2014). [1984]. Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center (3rd ed.). New York:
Routledge.
Lenin, Vladimir (1902). “What Is To Be Done?”
https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1901/witbd/
Lowrey, A. (2018). Give People Money: How a Universal Basic Income Would End Poverty,
Revolutionize Work, and Remake the World. New York, NY: Crown.
Mason, Paul (2013) Why Its Still Kicking Off Everywhere: The New Global Revolutions London:
Verso
______. (2015). Postcapitalism. New York: Farrer, Straus and Giroux.
https://www.academia.edu/7289524/A_Brief_for_Diagonalism_-_A_Dialectical_Take_on_David_Graebers_The_Democracy_Project
https://www.academia.edu/7289524/A_Brief_for_Diagonalism_-_A_Dialectical_Take_on_David_Graebers_The_Democracy_Project
https://www.academia.edu/7289524/A_Brief_for_Diagonalism_-_A_Dialectical_Take_on_David_Graebers_The_Democracy_Project
https://www.academia.edu/7289524/A_Brief_for_Diagonalism_-_A_Dialectical_Take_on_David_Graebers_The_Democracy_Project
https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1901/witbd/
https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1901/witbd/
Journal of World-Systems Research | Vol. 25 Issue 2 | Samir Amin’s New International
jwsr.pitt.edu | DOI 10.5195/JWSR.2019.947
363
Mestrum, F. (2017). “Reinventing the World Social Forum: how powerful an idea can be” Open
Democracy https://opendemocracy.net/francine-mestrum/reinventing-world-social-forum-
how-powerful-idea-can-be
Mestrum, F. (2018). “The World Social Forum is dead! Long live the World Social Forum?”
Alternatives International http://www.alterinter.org/spip.php?article4654
Meyer, John W. (2009). World Society: The Writings of John W. Meyer. New York: Oxford
University Press.
Michels, Robert. (1968 [1915]). Political Parties. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Moghadam, Valentine. M. (2005). Globalizing Women: Transnational Feminist
Networks. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. vol 75
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2019.102244
______. (2018). “Feminism and the future of revolutions” Socialism and Democracy, 32(1): 31-
53. https://doi.org/10.1080/08854300.2018.1461749
______. and Gizem Kaftan 2019 "Right-Wing Populisms North and North: Varieties and Gender
Dynamics" Women's Studies International Forum
Pleyers, Geoffrey (2011). Alter-Globalization. Malden, MA: Polity PressProgressive
International 2018 “An Open Call to All Progressive Forces” https://www.progressive-
international.org/open-call/
Prehofer, C and C. Bettstetter. (2005). “Self-organization in communication networks: principles
and design paradigms.” IEEE Communications Magazine 43(7):78-85.
Reitan, Ruth (2007). Global Activism. London: Routledge.
Rodrik, Dani (2018). “Populism and the Economics of Globalization.” Journal of International
Business Policy. https://doi.org/10.1057/s42214-018-001-4.
Sanbonmatsu, John. (2004). The Postmodern Prince. New York: Monthly Review Press.
Sen, J. and M. Kumar, P. Bond and P. Waterman. (2007). A Political Programme for the World
Social Forum?: Democracy, Substance and Debate in the Bamako Appeal and the Global
Justice Movements. Indian Institute for Critical Action: Centre in Movement (CACIM),
New Delhi, India & the University of KwaZulu-Natal Centre for Civil Society (CCS),
Durban, South Africa.
Sharzer. Greg (2012) Nolocal: Why Small-scale alternatives Will Not Change the World.
Aireford, Hants,
UK: Zero Books.
______. (2017). Cooperatives as Transitional Economics. Review of Radical Political
Economics, 49(3), 456–476. https://doi.org/10.1177/0486613415627154
Standing, Guy (2014). A Precariat Charter: From Denizens to Citizens. London: Bloomsbury
Starr, Amory (2000). Naming the Enemy: Anti-corporate Movements Confront Globalization.
London: Zed Books.
Steger, Manfred, J. Goodman and E.K. Wilson. (2013). Justice Globalism: Ideology, Crises,
Policy. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
https://opendemocracy.net/francine-mestrum/reinventing-world-social-forum-how-powerful-idea-can-be
https://opendemocracy.net/francine-mestrum/reinventing-world-social-forum-how-powerful-idea-can-be
https://opendemocracy.net/francine-mestrum/reinventing-world-social-forum-how-powerful-idea-can-be
https://opendemocracy.net/francine-mestrum/reinventing-world-social-forum-how-powerful-idea-can-be
http://www.alterinter.org/spip.php?article4654
http://www.alterinter.org/spip.php?article4654
https://doi.org/10.1080/08854300.2018.1461749
https://doi.org/10.1080/08854300.2018.1461749
https://www.progressive-international.org/open-call/
https://www.progressive-international.org/open-call/
https://www.progressive-international.org/open-call/
https://www.progressive-international.org/open-call/
https://doi.org/10.1057/s42214-018-001-4
https://doi.org/10.1057/s42214-018-001-4
https://doi.org/10.1177/0486613415627154
https://doi.org/10.1177/0486613415627154
Journal of World-Systems Research | Vol. 25 Issue 2 | Alvarez & Dunn
jwsr.pitt.edu | DOI 10.5195/JWSR.2019.947
364
Tufecki, Zeinab 2017 Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest.
New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Van Parijs, P. and Y. Vanderborght. (2017). Basic Income: A Radical Proposal for a Free
Society and a Sane Economy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
Wagar, W. Warren 1999 A Short History of the Future. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Wenar, L. 2016. Blood Oil: Tyrants, Violence and the Rules that Run the World. Oxford:
Oxford University Press. University Press.
Wallerstein, Immanuel (1998) Utopistics: Or Historical Choices of the Twenty-First Century.
New York: New Press
______. (2007) “The World Social Forum: from defense to offense.”
http://www.sociologistswithoutborders.org/documents/WallersteinCommentary.pdf
Waterman, Peter (2006). “Toward a global labour charter for the
21st century.” https://laborstrategies.blogs.com/global_labor_strategies/global_unionism/pag
e/4/
______. (2010) “Five, Six, Many New Internationalisms! (Nine Reflections on a Fifth
International)” http://www.europe-solidaire.org/spip.php?article16650
World Social Forum Charter of Principles 2001
http://www.universidadepopular.org/site/media/documentos/WSF_-
_charter_of_Principles.pdf
Wright, Erik O. (2010). Envisioning Real Utopias. London: Verso.
Youngs, Richard (2017). “What are the meanings behind the worldwide rise in protest?”
openDemocracy (October). https://www.opendemocracy.net/protest/multiple-meanings-
global-protest
http://www.sociologistswithoutborders.org/documents/WallersteinCommentary.pdf
http://www.sociologistswithoutborders.org/documents/WallersteinCommentary.pdf
https://laborstrategies.blogs.com/global_labor_strategies/global_unionism/page/4/
https://laborstrategies.blogs.com/global_labor_strategies/global_unionism/page/4/
https://laborstrategies.blogs.com/global_labor_strategies/global_unionism/page/4/
https://laborstrategies.blogs.com/global_labor_strategies/global_unionism/page/4/
http://www.europe-solidaire.org/spip.php?article16650
http://www.europe-solidaire.org/spip.php?article16650
http://www.universidadepopular.org/site/media/documentos/WSF_-_charter_of_Principles.pdf
http://www.universidadepopular.org/site/media/documentos/WSF_-_charter_of_Principles.pdf
http://www.universidadepopular.org/site/media/documentos/WSF_-_charter_of_Principles.pdf
http://www.universidadepopular.org/site/media/documentos/WSF_-_charter_of_Principles.pdf
https://www.opendemocracy.net/protest/multiple-meanings-global-protest
https://www.opendemocracy.net/protest/multiple-meanings-global-protest
https://www.opendemocracy.net/protest/multiple-meanings-global-protest
https://www.opendemocracy.net/protest/multiple-meanings-global-protest
Journal of World-Systems Research
Journal of World-Systems Research
Journal of World-Systems Research
Forum on Samir Amin’s proposal for a new international of workers and peoples
Forum on Samir Amin’s proposal for a new international of workers and peoples
Vol. 1 | DOI 10.5195/JWSR.1
Vol. 1 | DOI 10.5195/JWSR.1
The Global Social Justice Movement and the World Social Forum Process
The Global Social Justice Movement and the World Social Forum Process
The Culture of the World Revolution of 20xx
The Culture of the World Revolution of 20xx
Justice Globalism as a Discourse
Justice Globalism as a Discourse
Transnational Alternative Policy Think-Tanks
Transnational Alternative Policy Think-Tanks
Arab Spring, Pink Tide, Neo-fascism and Structural Deglobalization
Arab Spring, Pink Tide, Neo-fascism and Structural Deglobalization
The Vessel10F : Forging a Diagonal Instrument for the Global Left
The Vessel10F : Forging a Diagonal Instrument for the Global Left
The Vessel10F : Forging a Diagonal Instrument for the Global Left
The Vessel10F : Forging a Diagonal Instrument for the Global Left
The Vessel10F : Forging a Diagonal Instrument for the Global Left
The Vessel10F : Forging a Diagonal Instrument for the Global Left
The Vessel10F : Forging a Diagonal Instrument for the Global Left
The Vessel10F : Forging a Diagonal Instrument for the Global Left
The Vessel10F : Forging a Diagonal Instrument for the Global Left
The Vessel10F : Forging a Diagonal Instrument for the Global Left
The Vessel10F : Forging a Diagonal Instrument for the Global Left
The Vessel10F : Forging a Diagonal Instrument for the Global Left
The Vessel10F : Forging a Diagonal Instrument for the Global Left
The Vessel10F : Forging a Diagonal Instrument for the Global Left
The Vessel10F : Forging a Diagonal Instrument for the Global Left
The Vessel10F : Forging a Diagonal Instrument for the Global Left
The Vessel10F : Forging a Diagonal Instrument for the Global Left
The Vessel10F : Forging a Diagonal Instrument for the Global Left
The Vessel10F : Forging a Diagonal Instrument for the Global Left
The Vessel10F : Forging a Diagonal Instrument for the Global Left
The Vessel10F : Forging a Diagonal Instrument for the Global Left
The Vessel10F : Forging a Diagonal Instrument for the Global Left
The Vessel10F : Forging a Diagonal Instrument for the Global Left
The Vessel10F : Forging a Diagonal Instrument for the Global Left
The Vessel10F : Forging a Diagonal Instrument for the Global Left
The Vessel10F : Forging a Diagonal Instrument for the Global Left
The Vessel10F : Forging a Diagonal Instrument for the Global Left
The Vessel10F : Forging a Diagonal Instrument for the Global Left
The Vessel10F : Forging a Diagonal Instrument for the Global Left
The Vessel10F : Forging a Diagonal Instrument for the Global Left
The Vessel10F : Forging a Diagonal Instrument for the Global Left
The Vessel10F : Forging a Diagonal Instrument for the Global Left
The Vessel10F : Forging a Diagonal Instrument for the Global Left
The Vessel10F : Forging a Diagonal Instrument for the Global Left
The Vessel10F : Forging a Diagonal Instrument for the Global Left
The Vessel10F : Forging a Diagonal Instrument for the Global Left
Diagonal Organizational Structure
Diagonal Organizational Structure
Issues
Issues
Issues
References
References
References