Political movement

A political movement is a type of social movement [3] and it occurs when several people form a group in order to collectively attain a political goal on a local, national or global level.[1][7] The goals of political movements are often about making an impact on policy in the political sphere [2] or achieving social change in general.[9] While political movements involve both dealing with conflicts and compromise, the discourse of these movements tends to consist of a confrontational nature.[3] There are several types of political movements such as reform movements, mass movements, totalitarian movements [10] or violent political movements like guerrillas and insurgencies.[11]

Ideologies play a large role in political movements and individuals that are a part of a movement usually have a similar ideological reasoning for their participation.[4] These ideologies can be very oppositional to the current political system, and how it operates in comparison to the goals that the members of the movement aspire to achieve. This can however, help promote the message of the political movement.[3]

Some of the theories behind social movements have also been applied to the emergence of political movements in specific, like the political opportunity theory and the resource mobilization theory.[3][12]

Political movements are different from political parties since movements are usually focused on a single issue and they have no interest in attaining office in government. A political movement is generally an informal organization and uses unconventional methods to achieve their goals.[7] In a political party, a political organization seeks to influence or control government policy through conventional methods,[7] usually by nominating their candidates and seating candidates in politics and governmental offices.[8]

However, political parties and movements both aim to influence government in one way or another [7] and both are often related to a certain ideology. Parties also participate in electoral campaigns and educational outreach or protest actions aiming to convince citizens or governments to take action on the issues and concerns which are the focus of the movement.[8] What links political movements to parties in particular, is that some movements have turned into political parties. For example, the 15-M Movement against austerity in Spain led to the creation of the populist party Podemos [13] and the labor movements in Brazil helped form the Brazilian Workers' Party.[14] These types of movement parties serve to raise awareness on the main issue of their initial political movement in government, since the established parties may have neglected this issue in the past.[6]

Some political movements have aimed to change government policy, such as the anti-war movement, the ecology movement, and the anti-globalization movement. With globalization, global citizens movements may have also emerged.[15] Many political movements have aimed to establish or broaden the rights of subordinate groups, such as abolitionism, the women's suffrage movement, the civil rights movement, feminism, gay rights movement, the disability rights movement, or the inclusive human rights movement. Some have represented class interests, such as the labour movement, socialism, and communism, while others have expressed national aspirations, such as anticolonialist movements, Rātana, Zionism, and Sinn Féin. Political movements can also involve struggles to decentralize or centralize state control, as in anarchism, fascism, and Nazism.

Movements may also be named by outsiders, as with the Levellers political movement in 17th century England, which was named so as a term of disparagement. Yet admirers of the movement and its aims later came to use the term, and it is this term by which they are most known to history.[16]

General

Political spectrum, political science, political history (gestalt, political thought history), political sociology (political opportunity, resource mobilization), political structure

States

Sovereignty (sovereign state), nation state, federated state, member state, nation, The Estates, Rechtsstaat

People

John Locke, Georg Hegel, Karl Marx, Max Weber, Thomas Hobbes, Michel Foucault

Political philosophy

Autonomy (social identity), collective action, democracy, economic freedom, egalitarianism, equality before the law, equal opportunity, free will, social framing, gender equality, intellectual freedom, liberty, justice (moral responsibility), political freedom (assembly, association, choice, speech), political representation (representative democracy), political legitimacy, racial equality, rights (civil liberties), social cohesion, social equality

Political views 

Conservatism, environmentalism, fascism, feminism, liberalism, Marxism, nationalism, socialism, list of political ideologies

Other

Conservatism in the United States, Constitutional Movement, contentious politics, environmental movement, green politics, political aspects of Islam, political protest, sanctuary movement, Tea Party movement

• Harrison, Kevin, and Tony Boyd. Understanding Political Ideas and Movements: a Guide for A2 Politics Students. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2003.
• Opp, Karl-Dieter. Theories of Political Protest and Social Movements: a Multidisciplinary Introduction, Critique, and Synthesis. London: Routledge, 2015.
• Snow, David A., Donatella Della Porta, Bert Klandermans, and Doug McAdam. The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social and Political Movements. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013.