First Advisor
Christopher Foster
Date of Award
Summer 2026
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in International & Global Studies: International Development and University Honors
Department
Politics and Global Affairs
Language
English
Subjects
Praxis, Zapatistas, Hegemony, Affinity, Neoliberalism, Decolonization
Abstract
The common struggle of social movements, revolutionary and otherwise, in the contemporary era is how to establish a collective capable of asserting its politics via grassroots organizing in the face of the logic of global capitalism that atomizes communities, reconfigures the role of the state, and unleashes the fragmentizing and simultaneously totalitizing forces of the global market. Discourse regarding effective movement building in the contemporary era often falls into two dualistic avenues of resistance - complete autonomy that rejects any engagement or affiliation with political structures out of fear that it would result in demobilization through co-optation or negotiating a share of power, often via reform, with existing political institutions that risks reproducing the dominant logic of global capital and eroding the accountability of movement representatives to their social bases. However, the success of transformative social movements hinges on the development of a generative praxis capable of asserting itself against the hegemonic logics of domination and oppression. The Zapatistas’ resilience in the face of massive counterinsurgency; its perpetually resurgent organizing in confrontation with the complex permutations of global capitalist modernity; and its marked break with social movements of the cold war era, has made it a powerful symbol and inspiration to liberationists across the world who are struggling to build effective alternatives and resistance to neoliberal globalization. A critical analysis of the struggle of the Zapatista movement to build a collective capable of asserting itself on a national stage produces crucial knowledge that can be instrumentalized to address the challenges contemporary social movements face. While prefiguration and affinity to create transformative social systemic change may seem like the most feasible and ethical path forward, through an analysis of contemporary radical, decolonial social movements, it is clear that without also conceiving of a hegemonic vision, social movements run the risk of believing the fallacy that liberation can co-exist with structures and systems of domination and oppression.
Recommended Citation
Killian, Nico, "Resisting Dualism in Contemporary Movement Building: Lessons from the Zapatista Movement on Creating Assertive, Insurgent, and Generative Praxis" (2026). University Honors Theses. Paper 1910.