Democracy Uprising
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    • This Is An Uprising
    • How To Rule the World
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    • 2023-2025
    • 2021-2022
    • 2019-2020
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Category:

2021-2022

  • Changing the ‘world as it is’ into the ‘world as it should be’

    by Mark Engler and Paul Engler December 15, 2022
    by Mark Engler and Paul Engler December 15, 2022

    Resolving the conflict between being visionary and being pragmatic is critical for those who want to transform society.

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  • What’s the problem with taking state power?

    by Mark Engler and Paul Engler October 25, 2022
    by Mark Engler and Paul Engler October 25, 2022

    As social movements move beyond the default anarchist sensibility that prevailed through Occupy, they must still reckon with hard questions about bureaucracy and cooptation.

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  • Is Los Angeles Creating a Model for Fighting Mass Incarceration?

    by Mark Engler and Paul Engler August 22, 2022
    by Mark Engler and Paul Engler August 22, 2022

    In the past five years, abolitionists and advocates of criminal justice reform in Los Angeles County have amassed some impressive victories—laying out a vision for reducing incarceration and providing care …

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  • What If America Had Six Political Parties?

    by Mark Engler and Paul Engler June 14, 2022
    by Mark Engler and Paul Engler June 14, 2022

    Understanding the warring factions within the Democratic and Republican Party coalitions is critical for progressives who want to build power.

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  • Movements are vying for political power — is ‘co-governance’ the answer?

    by Mark Engler and Paul Engler May 20, 2022
    by Mark Engler and Paul Engler May 20, 2022

    As the left increasingly focuses on electoral politics, a new framework is emerging for how candidates who win should partner with social movements.

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  • How movements can maintain their radical vision while winning practical reforms

    by Mark Engler and Paul Engler May 10, 2022
    by Mark Engler and Paul Engler May 10, 2022

    Forty years of struggle by Brazil’s landless workers movement offers lessons on engaging the system without being co-opted.

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  • What Happens After Movement-Backed Politicians Take Office

    by Mark Engler and Paul Engler April 5, 2022
    by Mark Engler and Paul Engler April 5, 2022

    As the “co-governance” model gains traction, here’s a look into the promises and pitfalls–and how organizers are reimagining electoral politics.

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  • Should we disrupt the Democratic Party or try to take it over?

    by Mark Engler and Paul Engler January 14, 2022
    by Mark Engler and Paul Engler January 14, 2022

    Political scientists Frances Fox Piven and Daniel Schlozman have debated whether movements do better to put pressure on political parties from the outside, or to focus on gaining insider power …

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  • How to Take Over a Political Party

    by Mark Engler and Paul Engler October 8, 2021
    by Mark Engler and Paul Engler October 8, 2021

    Daniel Schlozman argues that, by becoming “anchor groups” within mainstream political parties, movements can secure lasting influence. But is entry into a party worth the price of admission?

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  • A Guide to Co-Governance: Can Movements and Politicians Work Together?

    by Mark Engler and Paul Engler July 5, 2022
    by Mark Engler and Paul Engler July 5, 2022

    What is co-governance? And why is it relevant to progressive politics? This report, “A Guide To Co-Governance,” provides answers, examining how movements and elected officials can strategize together.

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The Author

Mark Engler is a writer based in Philadelphia, an editorial board member at Dissent, and co-director of the Whirlwind Institute, a social change strategy center. His latest book, written with Paul Engler, is This Is An Uprising: How Nonviolent Revolt Is Shaping the Twenty-first Century (Nation Books). Mark’s full bio is available here.

Latest Articles

  • Learning from Myles Horton’s legendary career in social movements

    December 12, 2025
  • Is Trump co-governing with the billionaire class?

    June 25, 2025
  • Trump Is Inspiring a Historic Wave of Protests

    June 20, 2025
  • Could we be entering a ‘movement moment’ against Trump?

    April 10, 2025
  • Trump’s backpedaling shows he’s not invincible

    March 19, 2025

Mark’s Articles Appear In:

  • Dissent
  • The Nation
  • The New Republic
  • N+1
  • Salon.com
  • The Los Angeles Times
  • Waging Nonviolence
  • Boston Review
  • The Atlantic
  • Rolling Stone
  • The Guardian
  • In These Times
  • TomDispatch
  • New Internationalist
  • Yes! Magazine
  • Audubon Magazine
  • Jacobin
  • Mother Jones
  • Le Monde diplomatique
  • Grist Magazine
  • Rebelión
  • The San Francisco Chronicle
  • The Progressive
  • Newsday
  • openDemocracy
  • Truthout
  • Christian Science Monitor
  • Dollars & Sense
  • Progreso Semanal
  • Chicago Reader
  • Sin Permiso
  • Baltimore Sun
  • The Ecologist
  • TruthDig
  • Asia Times
  • Sierra Magazine
  • Labor Notes
  • New Politics
  • The Catholic Worker
  • The Des Moines Register
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email

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Democracy Uprising
  • About
    • About Mark Engler
    • About Democracy Uprising
  • Books
    • This Is An Uprising
    • How To Rule the World
  • Topics
  • Translations
  • Appearances
  • Archive
    • 2023-2025
    • 2021-2022
    • 2019-2020
    • 2017-2018
    • 2015-2016
    • 2013-2014
    • 2011-2012
    • 2009-2010
    • 2007-2008
    • 2005-2006
    • 2003-2004
    • 1999-2002