Protest movement from the lower reaches of society cannot deploy the resources to which we usually attribute the effective exercise of power. This article argues that when such movements do succeed, it is because the protestors have activated a distinctive kind of power. This power is rooted in their ability to disrupt the cooperative arrangements that constitute societies. ‘Occupy Wall Street’s’ contemplation of a debtors’ strike is an example of such a strategy and the formidable obstacles to its actuation.
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