The newly established Political and Social Movements Specialist Group exists to promote research and scholarship of political and social movements, protests, political campaigns and political engagement, broadly conceived. This includes the study of a range of institutional and non-institutional, extra-parliamentary actors, groups and networks. The group considers those types of contentious political groups and acts including, but not limited to, social movement organisations, ‘movement parties’, ‘movements in parties’, local community groups, campaign groups, riots, strikes, rebellions, revolts and hostile outbursts that are politically motivated, thus framing protests and social movements as inherently political actions and entities.