Documents della Porta, Donatella 13 results

" Drawing both on social movement studies and labour studies, this article investigates the kind of people who join trade union-staged marches during the current crisis, looking at the presence of (politicized) grievances, collective identity and the embeddedness of mobilization. Data were taken from surveys conducted during 13 marches organized by the main trade unions in five European countries. They show that participants in union-staged demonstrations in countries in which a corporatist model dominates and trade unions have a tradition of business unionism (Belgium and the Netherlands) are characterized by higher political trust, more moderate positions on the left–right continuum and stronger organizational ties. On the other hand, in countries in which unions are less institutionally recognized and with a tradition of oppositional unionism (Italy and Spain), participants in union-staged demonstrations are more mistrustful of politics, located more to the left and rely more upon informal social networks to mobilize. The United Kingdom falls between these two poles."

"This book analyses protests against the Great Recession in the European periphery. While social movements have long been considered as children of affluent times - or at least of times of opening opportunities - these protests defy such expectations, developing instead in moments of diminishing opportunities in both the economic and the political realms. Can social movement studies still be useful to understanding these movements of troubled times? The authors offer a positive answer to this question, although specify the need to bridge contentious politics with other fields, including political economy. They highlight differences in the social movements' strength and breadth and attempt to understand them in terms of three sets of dimensions: a) the specific characteristics of the socio-economic crisis and its consequences in terms of mobilization potential; b) the political reactions to it, in what we can define as political opportunities and threats; and c) the social movement cultures and structures that characterize each country. The book discusses these topics through a contextualized analysis of anti-austerity protest in the European periphery."

"Recent years have seen an enormous increase in protests across the world in which citizens have challenged what they see as a deterioration of democratic institutions and the very civil, political and social rights that form the basis of democratic life. Beginning with Iceland in 2008, and then forcefully in Egypt, Tunisia, Spain, Greece and Portugal, or more recently in Peru, Brazil, Russia, Bulgaria, Turkey and Ukraine, people have taken to the streets against what they perceive as a rampant and dangerous corruption of democracy, with a distinct focus on inequality and suffering.



This timely new book addresses the anti–austerity social movements of which these protests form part, mobilizing in the context of a crisis of neoliberalism. Donatella della Porta shows that, in order to understand their main facets in terms of social basis, strategy, and identity and organizational structures, we should look at the specific characteristics of the socioeconomic, cultural and political context in which they developed.



The result is an important and insightful contribution to understanding a key issue of our times, which will be of interest to students and scholars of political and economic sociology, political science and social movement studies, as well as political activists."

"Which elements do the Arab Spring, the Indignados and Occupy Wall Street have in common? How do they differ? What do they share with social movements of the past? This book discusses the recent wave of global mobilisations from an unusual angle, explaining what aspects of protests spread from one country to another, how this happened, and why diffusion occurred in certain contexts but not in others. In doing this, the book casts light on the more general mechanisms of protest diffusion in contemporary societies, explaining how mobilisations travel from one country to another and, also, from past to present times. Bridging different fields of the social sciences, and covering a broad range of empirical cases, this book develops new theoretical perspectives. 'This rich, punchy volume is the best overview yet of the extraordinary wave of movements that began in Iceland in 2008 and exploded around the world in 2011. It goes at the protests from many angles, but it especially shows how the movements are both transnational and yet very national at one and the same time, learning from each other and yet inventing their own paths.' James M Jasper City University of New York 'In the wake of the Arab revolutions', write Jérôme E Roos and Leonidas Oikonomakis in their contribution to this book, 'a wave of popular protest washed across the globe: from the leafy squares of the Mediterranean to the concrete heart of the global financial empire at Wall Street, and later from the Bosphorus to Brazil, people suddenly started taking to the streets everywhere.' Was this an integrated social movement with expressions in different places? A set of unconnected campaigns that only appeared to be integrated because they occurred around the same time? Or were they something in between? In this rich and challenging volume, Donatella della Porta, Alice Mattoni and their collaborators interrogate the transnational dimensions of the events of 2011 and find a high degree of coherence in them, despite their broad diversity and the heterogeneity of their settings. There were striking similarities in these movements: their response to the global financial and economic crisis; the degree to which they directly challenged elites; their common use of the tactic of the camp-out in public space. Most enticing was what della Porta, in her contribution, calls 'Learning Democracy - the transnational and cross-time diffusion of organisational repertoires'. The heady days of the indignados, the Arab Spring, and Occupy Wall Street are gone, but the lessons those movements pose to theories of contentious politics are advanced in this important book.' Sidney Tarrow Department of Government, Cornell University Author of The New Transnational Activism 'This empirically rich and theoretically innovative comparative volume interrogates the recent transnational wave of anti-austerity and pro-democracy mobilisations, reflecting thoughtfully on the nature of the transnational dimension in these current mobilisations in relation to the former wave of protests against global capitalism. The chapters shed light on the complex and multi-levelled mechanisms of protest diffusion - what were the ideas that travelled, how and why the protests occurred in such different contexts across time and space, and why they did not occur in other contexts. The volume makes a major contribution to the literature on diffusion in social movements, inviting readers to critically assess the traditional models of diffusion. Essential reading for social movement researchers, students and general readers interested in the phenomenon of transnational protest.' Abby Peterson Department of Sociology and Work Science University of Gothenburg"

"Financial crisis, economic globalization and the strengthening of neoliberal policies present stark challenges to traditional conceptions of representative democracy. Yet, at the same time, new opportunities are emerging that propose alternative visions for the future of democracy.
In this highly articulate book, Donatella della Porta analyses diverse conceptions and practices of participatory and deliberative democracy, building upon recent reflections in normative theory as well as original empirical research. As well as drawing on key historical examples, the book pays close attention to the current revitalization of social movements: the Arab Spring uprisings in processes of democratic transition; the potential of new technologies to develop so-called e-democracy in the Indignados and Occupy Wall Street protests; and proposals for cosmopolitan democracy found in recent campaigns for democratization of the European Union and United Nations. Alongside such social movements, the book also assesses institutional reactions, from the policing of protest to efforts at reform."

"Social movement studies have grown enormously in the last few decades, spreading from sociology and political science to other fields of knowledge, as varied as geography, history, anthropology, psychology, economics, law and others. With the growing interest in the field, there has been also an increasing need for methodological guidance for empirical research. This volume addresses this need by introducing the main methods of data collection and data analysis as they have been used in past research on social movements.
Unlike other volumes, the book offers a practical, how-to approach and not simply a review of the methodological literature. Each author writes on a method they are very familiar with, having used it extensively in their own work. And each chapter presents specific discussions on every stage of research: from research design to data collection and the use of the information gathered. Throughout, research dilemmas and choices are presented, illustrated, and discussed. The volume offers an essential point of references for anyone undertaking research on social movements."

"The Oxford Handbook of Social Movements is an innovative volume that presents a comprehensive exploration of social movement studies, mapping the field and expanding it to examine the recent developments in cognate areas of studies, within and beyond sociology and political science.
This volume brings together the most distinguished social and political scientists working in this field, each writing thought-provoking essays in their area of expertise, and facilitates conversations between classic social movement agenda and lines of research. The Oxford Handbook of Social Movements discusses core theoretical perspectives, recent contributions from the field, and how patterns of macro social change may affect social movements, as well as suggesting what contributions social movement studies can give to other research areas in various disciplines."