Review: Direct action, deliberation and diffusion: Collective action after the WTO protests in Seattle

Sutherland, N

Abstract

In Direct Action, Deliberation and Diffusion: Collective Action after the WTO protests in Seattle, Lesley Wood seeks to examine the micro-level interactions that influenced the diffusion of the cluster of tactics associated with the 1999 World Trade Organisation (WTO) protests in Seattle, drawing on ethnographic research spanning over several years (primarily between 1999-2002). To draw out these ideas, Wood conducts a comparative analysis, studying the strategies of six case organisations - three in New York City, three in Toronto - all of which had a history of disruptive protest and cited the Seattle demonstrations as having a “big influence on their activities” (p.3). In short, what was found was that while the New York organisations continued to experiment and utilise innovative tactics drawn from the Seattle Protests a year after the event, similar organisations in Toronto had largely abandoned them. This fundamental difference is traced back to the deliberative periods surrounding the potential adoption of Seattle tactics and strategies, and Wood sets out to inspect the factors that led to innovations being either implemented or discarded.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 1, 2013
• Publication Date: Oct 1, 2013
• Journal: Interface
• Publisher: Royal Society, The
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 5
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 540-543
• Keywords: WTO protests, Seattle, review
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/927048
• Publisher URL: http://www.interfacejournal.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Issue-5-_-2-Full-PDF.pdf