ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses different versions of accountability-claiming, using a range of theoretical standpoints. It explores experiences of action for social change that demonstrate what concepts of power, empowerment, agency and resistance mean in practice. The book explains strategies for countering the negative narratives that pave the way for violent attacks, and for creating new narratives of solidarity and collective power. It demonstrates that power and empowerment are best understood as they intersect with real issues and struggles, rather than as a stand-alone field of theory or inquiry. Neither is power analysis the exclusive concern of any particular discipline, but rather a set of perspectives and approaches that are applicable to many issues and sectors. In the realm of politics, the conventional view of power as agency based on liberal, pluralist and political economy framings conceived citizens as free agents.
