Contemporary Social Movements and Radical Democracy: Insights from the Global South

Radical democracy and social movements have an intricate relationship as the former is often expected to inform, inspire, and guide the latter to challenge oppressive social orders and power structures – yet, not always successfully. This article offers an analysis of contemporary social movements in Colombia and Turkey to show the limits and potential of radical democracy to reimagine new expressions of citizenship and non-capitalist alternatives. It argues that there is a mismatch between various conceptualizations of radical democracy and the ways it has been articulated and practiced by anti-austerity and pro-democracy movements of the twenty-first century. We propose that radical democracy should be rethought in light of novel forms of political activism and visions emerging from the social movements of the Global South in response to the failures of liberal democracy.