EVENT:
The "Social Movements, Public Policy and Democracy Conference" is an event where scholars from nine universities will examine how public policy and social movements affect each other. The event is free and open to the public. For reservations, call (949) 824-1437 or e-mail jenness@uci.edu. For more information, see http://www.seweb.uci.edu/users/jenness/schedule.html.

DATE:
Saturday, Jan. 12, 2002

TIME:
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

LOCATION:
Hotel Laguna, 425 South Coast Highway, Laguna Beach

BACKGROUND:
The connection between public policy and social movements highlights critical questions in the study of contemporary politics, particularly in liberal democratic polities. People turn to social protest when they perceive that more conventional means of political participation are closed to them. Collective activism occurs reactively, seeking to stop both real and proposed changes in policy-for instance, preventing an airport from being built, outlawing abortion or closing toxic waste dumps. State policies are then both the cause and consequence of citizen politics and set the rules of participation.