ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book seeks to reconstruct the complex political protests, new social movements, cultural expressions, and diverse ideologies that emerged in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Latin America, as well as Eastern Europe and the continent's southern periphery. It discusses the rich scholarship since the late 1990s that has worked to emancipate itself from narratives dominated by former activists and their opponents, as well as contemporary eyewitnesses. The book tries to capture the variety, complexity, and richness of political, cultural, social, and ideological manifestations of the sixties. It focuses on the most disruptive year, teasing out why these occurred when they did and showing how crucial the local determinants of protest were. The chapter illustrates the wide-ranging social, political, and cultural transformations subsumed under the concept of the global sixties resist clear definitions and neat compartmentalization.
