The 1994 mobilisation of the Emiliano Zapata Army of National Liberation (EZLN) in the Chiapas state of Southern Mexico prompted much academic and political debate. The EZLN proposed a variety of economic, political, social and. cultural demands in the ensuing days, weeks, months and years. Academic and political commentators using a variety of conceptual and interpretive frameworks sought to make sense of this social movement and assess whether the EZLN was truly significant. This thesis develops a distinctive coverage and critique of these approaches by arguing that the EZLN represents much more than current studies of the movement allow. The thesis argues that the EZLN represents the need and provides the opportunity for a profound rethinking of social movement theory and its assumptions. The thesis argues that the EZLN can help inform current interest in developing a thinking space in Critical International Relations Theory and invokes a problematisation of current conceptual approaches to the nature, the issues, the objectives and the strategies of contemporary social movements, in theory and practice