Suchergebnisse

The article discusses recent challenges and opportunities for democracy. Stressing that the scientific discourse on this topic has to critically consider the various meanings of the concept of democracy, some main narratives on the status of democracy are reviewed, looking at the elements of crisis of representative democracies, but also at the growing importance of democratic qualities promoted in participatory and deliberative conceptions of democracy. Original empirical research on conceptions and practices of democracy in social movements as pre-figurative arenas provides illustrations of the tensions and potentials within the, variously understood, conceptions of democracy. Moreover, some explanations of the different conceptions of democracy are discussed. The author concludes that, if the historical evolution of democracy privileged some specific qualities (related in particular to electoral accountability), the recent difficulties of representative institutions require a reflection on different qualities that, as participation and deliberation, are acquiring new relevance. Adapted from the source document.

A symposium discussion of the following book by Pierre Rosanvallon; "Counter-Democracy: Politics in an Age of Distruct".

The "return" of poor people movements encourages reflection on the impact of changes in the social structure, the availability of organizational resources, and political and discursive opportunities for collective action. Based on a quantitative and qualitative claim analysis in six European countries, this article maps unemployment-related protest actions in three areas: (a) long-term unemployment; (b) massive dismissals; and (c) unemployment and labor policies within more general cycles of protest. The article discusses the actors, the forms and claims of the protests, and the social and political opportunities for their development. Protests on unemployment tend to assume some similar forms, each oriented to stress the"absolute injustice" of the position of the unemployed. The framing of the issues of both labor changes and the evolution of the labor market restates the importance of social dynamics for political protest. Unions as well as other social movements and political actors play an important role in the protest against unemployment. Adapted from the source document.

Protest campaigns against large-scale public works usually take place within a local context. However, since the 1990s new forms of protest have been emerging. This book analyses two cases from Italy that illustrate this development: the environmentalist protest campaigns against the TAV (the building of a new high-speed railway in Val de Susa, close to the border with France), and the construction of the Bridge on the Messina Straits (between Calabria and Sicily). Such mobilizations emerge from local conflicts but develop as part of a global justice movement, often resulting in the production of new identities. They are promoted through multiple networks of different social and political groups, that share common claims and adopt various forms of protest action. It is during the protest campaigns that a sense of community is created

Although the process of European integration is proceeding speedily and social movements are often interacting trans-nationally, research on the Europeanization of social movement actors is far from developed. Some scholars, focusing especially on public interest groups active at EU level, expect that civil society actors, due among other reasons to the flexibility of their organizational structures, will be able to adapt quickly to integration. Others, especially scholars looking at protest activities, are skeptical on three accounts: (1) will actors endowed with scarce material resources be able to build transnational organizations; (2) will they be able to stage supranational protest events; and (3) will the European Union be accountable to pressure from below. In this article, we focus on the degree and forms of social movement participation in the public discourse and collective action concerning Europe-that is, their capacity to take part in the debate and mobilization referring to European issues, targets, and actors. On the basis of a comparative dataset that includes content analyses of daily press and interview data from seven European countries, we argue that various forms of Europeanization of the public discourse and mobilization by social movements are indeed on the rise, with a growing presence not only of purely European actors but also of European targets and frames, as well as transnational movement networks. Changes across time emerge, with the development of (conflictual) forms of Europeanization from below. Adapted from the source document.

Italy has been considered an Euro-enthusiastic country. On the basis of claims analysis as well as semi-structured interviews with key political actors, this article presents a more nuanced image. Permissive consensus has in fact been eroded in Italy too: although support for the principle of European integration remains high, specific policy choices of European Union institutions are criticized together with the perceived 'democratic deficit'. In fact, the increasing competences at the EU level have contributed to a politicization of the debate on European integration, with different actors constructing different images of economic, social and political Europe. Adapted from the source document.

The apparent triumph of the 'revolution of the judges' (which in the early 1990s led to talk of a 'Second Republic' in Italy) proved to be of short duration. Between the mid-1990s and the early 2000s the question of political corruption was intentionally demoted as a political priority by means of a 'bi-partisan' agreement. The 'Clean Hands' investigations do not seem to have led to the moral regeneration of Italian politics: available indicators on the diffusion of corruption instead signal high and constant levels. 'Clean Hands' opened a window of opportunity for overcoming the various 'anomalies' of Italian politics, but the political class was unable or unwilling to seize the moment. Not only is the balance sheet of actions against corruption rather meager, but profound divisions have emerged in the relationship between the judiciary and the 'new' political class. Adapted from the source document.