Suchergebnisse

Considered an innovation because of its capacity to develop transnational processes, the World Social Forum however also has strong local roots as well as effects on organizational models and collective identities at the domestic level. Focusing on the Italian case, this article shows how local social forums, as arenas for exchanges of ideas, played a cognitive role in the import, but also the translation of new ideas, as well as helping the emergence of dense network structures and tolerant identities. The first section of the article examines how local social forums contributed to innovation in the organizational formulas of the Global Justice Movement—considering both structure (organizations) and process (methodologies) aspects—through the development of different, more participatory conceptions of internal decision making. It then addresses the innovations in the definition of collective identities, stressing the linkages of local struggles and global framing as well as the development of a cross-issue discourse around an anti-neoliberal frame. The final section will discuss the contribution of local social forums to contemporary social movements, stressing the role of these new arenas for the cross-fertilization among different movement families and spreading a method of working together that becomes part of the repertoire of action of local social movement organizations. The empirical research consists mainly of in-depth interviews and focus groups with activists from social movement organizations which were involved in local social forums.

Abstract
In this article we explore the process of 'contamination' (namely cross‐fertilization) in the development of the Global Justice Movement in Italy during the 1990s. We focus on two specific organizational sectors of this movement: labour organizations and associations for solidarity with the global South. We concentrate on a stage of the protest cycle that has been overlooked in social movement studies, namely the emergence of mobilization after a period of latency, and shed light on the process through which individual and organizational networks actually facilitate mobilization and vice versa. The process of 'contamination' in action is presented as the combination of structural, cognitive and affective mechanisms. It operates through both individual and organizational networks that together facilitate logistic coordination, enable the emergence of tolerance and mutual trust and allow frame bridging and the transnationalization of identities.

This article focuses on the use of Computer-Mediated Communication by the movement for global justice, with special attention to the organisations involved in the movement and its activists. We examined data collected during two supranational protest events: the anti-G8 protest in Genoa in July 2001 and the European Social Forum (ESF) in Florence in November 2002. In both cases, we have complemented an analysis of the Genoa Social Forum and ESF websites with a survey of activists, including questions about their use of the Internet. We then examine hypotheses about changes new technologies introduce in collective action. The Internet empowers social movements in: (a) purely instrumental ways (an additional logistical resource for 'resource-poor' actors), (b) a protest function (direct expression of protest); (c) symbolically (as a medium favouring identification processes in collective actors) and (d) cognitively (informing and sensitising public opinion).

Presenting the first systematic empirical research on the global justice movement, Globalization from Below analyzes a movement from the viewpoints of the activists, organizers, and demonstrators themselves. The authors traveled to Genoa with anti-G8 protesters and collected data from more than 800 participants. They examine the interactions between challengers and elites, and discuss how new models of activism fit into current social movement work

Citizens' committees have become an increasingly frequent, relevant phenomenon in Italian local politics and policy over the last decade or so. This article examines protest campaigns concerning traffic policies in four medium-size cities in which such committees have played a pivotal role. Though the ability of such actors to successfully impose their preferences on the policy agenda appears to be at the very least uncertain, an analysis of these campaigns reveals some of the factors that can increase their chances of exerting influence on policy decisions. Such factors include the resources these campaigns can mobilize–-namely various forms of human, social and political capital--, how politically opportune they are, and their ability to structure public discourse within a global framework that fosters the building of coalitions supporting their claims.

Citizens' committees have become an increasingly frequent, relevant phenomenon in Italian local politics and policy over the last decade or so. This article examines protest campaigns concerning traffic policies in four medium-size cities in which such committees have played a pivotal role. Though the ability of such actors to successfully impose their preferences on the policy agenda appears to be at the very least uncertain, an analysis of these campaigns reveals some of the factors that can increase their chances of exerting influence on policy decisions. Such factors include the resources these campaigns can mobilize -- namely various forms of human, social and political capital, how politically opportune they are, and their ability to structure public discourse within a global framework that fosters the building of coalitions supporting their claims. Adapted from the source document.

Movement parties in times of (anti)austerity : an introduction -- The genesis of movement parties in the neoliberal critical juncture -- Organizational repertoires of movement parties -- Framing movement parties -- Comparing movement parties' success and failures -- Movement parties : some conclusions

The ascendance of austerity policies and the wave of protests they have generated have had a deep impact on the shape of contemporary politics. The stunning electoral successes of Syriza in Greece, Podemos in Spain and the Movimento 5 Stelle (M5S) in Italy, alongside the quest for a more radical left in countries such as the UK and the US, bear witness to a new wave of parties that draw inspiration and strength from social movements. While dissatisfaction with traditional institutional politics continues apace, the rise of movement parties challenges simplistic expectations of a growing separation between institutional and contentious politics and the decline of the left. First becoming visible in Latin America in the 1990s, with a parallel move in Europe in recent years, the return of movement parties demands attention as a way of understanding both contemporary socio-political dynamics and the fundamentals of political parties and representation. Bridging social movement and party politics studies, within a broad concern with democratic theories, this volume presents new empirical evidence and conceptual insight into these topical socio-political phenomena, within a cross-national comparative perspective.

Die AutorInnen betreiben Soziologie und Politologie an der Universität Florenz. Hier legen sie die Auswertung einer Befragung von ca. 800 (darunter ca. 300 organisierten) italienischen DemonstrantInnen gegen den G-8-Gipfel in Genua im Juli 2001 vor. Gezeigt werden das netzwerkartige Zusammenwirken von, aber auch die Unterschiede und Kontroversen zwischen katholischen und laizistischen Vereinigungen ("Liliput"), von ATTAC und Organisationen der eher traditionellen Linken, von der Centri Sociali des zivilen Ungehorsams und von den Fundamentaloppositionellen (Anarchisten, Schwarzer Block). "Besonderes Augenmerk wird auf den Gebrauch des Internet gelegt", auch durch explizite und abrufbare Verweise auf über 100 Websites, überwiegend mit Verlautbarungen dieser Organisationen. Ein kurzes Schlusskapitel beleuchtet anhand einer weiteren Befragung beim europäischen Sozialforum in Florenz im November 2002 auch transnationale Unterschiede der Globalisierungskritik. Ohne Register. (3)