Introduction: Non-Western Social Movements and Participatory Democracy in the Age of Transnationalism

This chapter explains the aims and scope of the volume and provides the theoretical background. It outlines the emergence of participatory democracy as a cross-cutting theme across non-Western social movements, framed around three concepts that appear ubiquitous across different settings: real participation, social justice, and dignity. This chapter argues that outcome-based approaches to social movements fail to adequately explain the non-Western context. Instead, the focus should be on the transformative potential of social movements and their gains in promoting broad-based political participation as a viable alternative. Finally, it gives a brief summary of the volume’s organization.