Social Movements in a Global Context focuses on interpreting the resurgence in popular protest for a growing audience of university students. Most of this new activity is either in response to or makes use of emerging global regimes — hence, the book's emphasis on the global context as well as on strategies for trans-local mobilization. Equally important is the fact that the book adopts a Canadian perspective and highlights, where possible, Canadian case studies.
The chapters are organized around an explanatory framework, such as class analysis, or a core analytical question. Some of the chapters deal with historical content, but all make links to the immediate present and attempt to engage students in ongoing debates and struggles. The author makes connections between movements and the state, focusing on the dynamic of co-optation/coercion. The author also pays attention to the spacial dimensions of movement formation and tactics, which are particularly relevant in the present era of globalization.

Rod Bantjes is Associate Professor in the Sociology and Anthropology Department at St. Francis Xavier University. His areas of expertise are environmental social movements and social geography.

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"A serious contribution that will have a long life... The arguments are coherent and sustained [and the book] links movements to the working classes in vital ways.... A solid book that is comprehensive, engaged and engaging, and, especially, relevant to the wave of new activists and intellectuals who are working on new and improved collective forms of class-rooted self-emancipation."— “James Sacouman, Acadia University