Late Neoliberalism and its Discontents in the Economic Crisis: Comparing Social Movements in the European Periphery

318 Pages·2017·3.87 MB·English

by  Donatella Della Porta

Donatella della Porta, Massimiliano Andretta,
Tiago Fernandes, Eduardo Romanos,
Francis O’Connor, Markos Vogiatzoglou
LATE
NEOLIBERALISM
AND ITS
DISCONTENTS

IN THE
ECONOMIC CRISIS
Comparing Social Movements
in the European Periphery
Late Neoliberalism and its Discontents in the
Economic Crisis
“This encompassing volume offers a novel relational and dynamic perspec-
tive on the anti-austerity movements in seven countries of the European
periphery, those hit hardest by the recent crisis. It will be an integral read-
ing for all those seeking to understand the recent anti-austerity move-
ment, in and beyond the European periphery.”
– Maria Kousis, Professor of Sociology,
University of Crete, Greece
“The comparative perspective on cross-national similarities and differences
is invaluable, and it makes this book an essential starting point for anyone
who seeks to understand the political impact of the Great Recession in the
European periphery.”
– Kenneth M. Roberts, Richard J. Schwarz Professor,
Cornell University, US
“The richness of the empirical analysis makes this book a must-read for
anyone interested in the Euro crisis. The innovative combination of politi-
cal economy and social movement analysis also makes it a should-read for
scholars in either fi eld.”
– Lucio Baccaro, Professor of Macro-Sociology,
University of Geneva, Switzerland
Donatella   D ella Porta • M assimiliano   Andretta • Tiago   Fernandes
• Francis   O ’Connor • E duardo   Romanos • Markos   Vogiatzoglou
Late Neoliberalism
and its Discontents in
the Economic Crisis
Comparing Social Movements in the European
Periphery
Donatella   Della Porta Francis   O’Connor
Scuola Normale Superiore Florence University of Aarhus
Pisa, Italy Aarhus, Denmark
Massimiliano   Andretta Eduardo   Romanos
University of Pisa Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Pisa, Italy Madrid , Spain
Tiago   Fernandes Markos   Vogiatzoglou
Nova University Greek Ministry of State
Lisbon , Portugal Athens , Greece
ISBN 978-3-319-35079-0 ISBN 978-3-319-35080-6 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-35080-6
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016953882
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A
CKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This volume emerges from a theoretical and an empirical interest. From
the theoretical point of view, it aims at bridging social movement stud-
ies with political economy, thus developing upon Donatella della Porta’s
Social Movements in Times of Austerity (Polity, 2015). While, however, that
work stressed the similarities among the social movements that emerged
in late neoliberalism, in this volume the authors look at the ways in which
the specifi cities of the fi nancial and political crises affected the countries
at the European periphery. The empirical interest is in refl ecting on how
social movement traditions interact with contextual characteristics in the
development of anti-austerity protests in those countries in Europe that
have been hardest hit by the fi nancial crisis and the austerity policies that
followed it.
In this endeavour, we have received much needed help of different types
and from different sources. First of all, we wish to express our gratitude
to our colleagues at the Centre on Social Movement Studies, fi rst at the
European University Institute and then at the Scuola Normale Superiore.
For long discussions (and some relaxing moments), we thank those who
shared with us the Villa Pagliaiuola and then Palazzo Strozzi: among them,
Kivanc Atak, Lorenzo Bosi, Lorenzo Cini, Pietro Castelli, Priska Daphi,
Konstantinos Eleftheriadis, Andrea Felicetti, Joseba Fernandes, Hara
Kouki, Linda Lund Pedersen, Alice Mattoni, Stefan Malthaner, Georgia
Mavrodi, Chiara Milan, Emin Poljarevich, Herbert Reiter, Daniel Ritter,
Salvatore Sberna, Alberto Vannucci and Lorenzo Zamponi. We have also
presented various versions of various chapters at seminars and conferences
in various countries: we are grateful for all the comments we have received
v
vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
there. The empirical research would have not been possible without the
trust of the activists who spoke with us, as well as the material support of
an Advanced Scholars’ Grant from the European Research Council on
‘Mobilizing for democracy’, some of whose results we publish here.
Finally, we are most grateful to Sarah Tarrow, who, with her usual skills
and commitment (and also good humour), has helped us to make our
ideas not only more communicable but also more clear.
C
ONTENTS
1 Late Neoliberalism and Its Discontents: An Introduction 1
Donatella della Porta
2 Iceland’s Mobilization in the Financial Crisis 39
Markos Vogiatzoglou
3 The Presence and Absence of Protest in Austerity Ireland 6 5
Francis O’Connor
4 Turbulent Flow: Anti-Austerity Mobilization in Greece 99
Markos Vogiatzoglou
5 Late Neoliberalism and Its Indignados: Contention
in Austerity Spain 1 31
Eduardo Romanos
6 Late Neoliberalism and Its Discontents: The Case
of Portugal 1 69
Tiago Fernandes
vii
viii CONTENTS
7 Neoliberalism and Its Discontents in Italy: Protests
Without Movement? 2 01
Massimiliano Andretta
8 Cyprus’ Explosion: Financial Crisis and Anti-austerity
Mobilization 2 43
Markos Vogiatzoglou
9 Late Neoliberalism and Its Discontents: A Comparative
Conclusion 2 61
Donatella della Porta
Index 297
A A
BOUT THE UTHORS
Massimiliano   Andretta is Associate Professor at the Department of
Political Sciences of the University of Pisa, where he teaches Political
Science and Political Communication. His research interests are mainly
on social movement and political participation studies. Recent publica-
tions include ‘Power and arguments in global justice movement settings’,
in Meeting Democracy (2013, edited by D. della Porta and D. Rucht) and
‘Il Movimento 5 Stelle in Toscana: un movimento post-subculturale?’, in
Gli attivisti del Movimento a 5 Stelle: dal web al territorio (2015, edited by
Roberto Biorcio).
Tiago   Fernandes is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Nova
University, Lisbon. He holds a PhD from the European University Institute,
Florence, and his research interests include political and social revolution,
civil society and democratization. Relevant publications include T he Liberal
Wing and the End of the Portuguese Dictatorship, 1968–1974 (2006); Civil
Society (2014); and ‘Rethinking Pathways to Democracy: Civil Society
in Spain and Portugal, 1960s—2014’ ( Democratization , 2014). Civil
Society, Democracy, and Inequality: Cross-R egional Comparisons (1970s-
2015) , co-edited with Michael Bernhard and Rui Branco, will be pub-
lished in Comparative Politics in 2017. He has been a visiting researcher
at Princeton University, the Juan March Foundation, and the Kellogg
Institute for International Studies, University of Notre Dame. Currently
he is writing a book manuscript on the origins of democracy and dictator-
ship in France, Italy and Spain from the late nineteenth to the mid twen-
tieth century.
ix