Imaginaries of social change in Algeria: Nonviolent acts of citizenship of the autonomous trade union activists

Karim Maiche

doi:10.4324/9781003378891-14

Imaginaries of social change in Algeria: Nonviolent acts of citizenship of the autonomous trade union activists

Karim Maiche

Faculty of Social Sciences

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › Scientific › peer-review

Abstract

In 2019–2021, Algeria witnessed a wide and extensive wave of protests organised by the so-called Hirak movement. Continuous and widespread demonstrations led to resignation of the President Abdelaziz Bouteflika while many former governmental figures have been arrested and condemned to long jail sentences ever since. Before the 2019 uprisings, dozens of autonomous trade unions formed a heterogeneous political body within dispersed opposition. Activists within these unions challenged, alongside with other civil society actors, the state authorities through strikes, demonstrations, and sit-ins claiming for better working conditions and citizenship rights. This chapter theorises these nonviolent social contestations through the concept of “acts of citizenship” and it is based on ethnographic fieldwork and participant observation among autonomous trade union activists. It also discusses multiple state practices (restrictions, arrests, negotiations, and cloning) in order to discover how state authorities managed the pre-2019 uprisings and imaginaries of the social change.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Citizenship Utopias in the Global South
Subtitle of host publication	The Emergent Forms of Activism in an Era of Disillusionment
Editors	Henri Onodera, Martta Kaskinen, Eija Ranta
Place of Publication	London
Publisher	Routledge
Chapter	11
Pages	172-188
Number of pages	17
ISBN (Electronic)	9781003378891
ISBN (Print)	9781032458311, 9781032458335
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003378891-14
Publication status	Published - 23 Jan 2025
MoEC publication type	A3 Part of a book or another research book

Publication series

Series	Routledge Studies in Political Sociology

Keywords

protest movements
civic activism
civil society movements
trade unions
trade union movement
Algeria

Field of science

Social policy

Access to research output

10.4324/9781003378891-14Licence: CC BY

Imaginaries of social change in Algeria
© 2025 selection and editorial matter, Henri Onodera, Martta Kaskinen, and Eija Ranta; individual chapters, the contributors
Final published version, 148 KBLicence: CC BY

Citation for this output

Maiche, Karim. / Imaginaries of social change in Algeria : Nonviolent acts of citizenship of the autonomous trade union activists . Citizenship Utopias in the Global South: The Emergent Forms of Activism in an Era of Disillusionment. editor / Henri Onodera ; Martta Kaskinen ; Eija Ranta. London : Routledge, 2025. pp. 172-188 (Routledge Studies in Political Sociology).

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abstract = "In 2019–2021, Algeria witnessed a wide and extensive wave of protests organised by the so-called Hirak movement. Continuous and widespread demonstrations led to resignation of the President Abdelaziz Bouteflika while many former governmental figures have been arrested and condemned to long jail sentences ever since. Before the 2019 uprisings, dozens of autonomous trade unions formed a heterogeneous political body within dispersed opposition. Activists within these unions challenged, alongside with other civil society actors, the state authorities through strikes, demonstrations, and sit-ins claiming for better working conditions and citizenship rights. This chapter theorises these nonviolent social contestations through the concept of “acts of citizenship” and it is based on ethnographic fieldwork and participant observation among autonomous trade union activists. It also discusses multiple state practices (restrictions, arrests, negotiations, and cloning) in order to discover how state authorities managed the pre-2019 uprisings and imaginaries of the social change.",

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Maiche, K 2025, Imaginaries of social change in Algeria: Nonviolent acts of citizenship of the autonomous trade union activists . in H Onodera, M Kaskinen & E Ranta (eds), Citizenship Utopias in the Global South: The Emergent Forms of Activism in an Era of Disillusionment. Routledge, London, Routledge Studies in Political Sociology, pp. 172-188. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003378891-14

Imaginaries of social change in Algeria: Nonviolent acts of citizenship of the autonomous trade union activists . / Maiche, Karim.
Citizenship Utopias in the Global South: The Emergent Forms of Activism in an Era of Disillusionment. ed. / Henri Onodera; Martta Kaskinen; Eija Ranta. London: Routledge, 2025. p. 172-188 (Routledge Studies in Political Sociology).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › Scientific › peer-review

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Maiche K. Imaginaries of social change in Algeria: Nonviolent acts of citizenship of the autonomous trade union activists . In Onodera H, Kaskinen M, Ranta E, editors, Citizenship Utopias in the Global South: The Emergent Forms of Activism in an Era of Disillusionment. London: Routledge. 2025. p. 172-188. (Routledge Studies in Political Sociology). doi: 10.4324/9781003378891-14

Imaginaries of social change in Algeria: Nonviolent acts of citizenship of the autonomous trade union activists

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