The authors of this book are scholars in political science, civil wars, and social movements, who are affiliated with universities in Italy, including the Scuola Normale Superiore in Florence, the European University Institute in Florence, and the Centre on Social Movement Studies in Italy. They seek to connect the fields of social movement studies and studies of direct democracy, applying ideas from these fields to territorial, socioeconomic, and political crises related to referendums from below, including the Scottish vote in 2014 to leave the UK, Catalans attempt at secession from Italy, the water referendum in Italy, and other referendums from below in Greece, Italy, and Iceland. Discussion encompasses normative theories of democracy, and the role of social movements in referendum campaigns. Distributed in North America by the University of Chicago Press. Annotation ©2017 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)
In recent years, social movements on the left have increasingly begun to make themselves felt in referendums. This has been seen throughout Europe: in votes regarding independence in Scotland and Catalonia, on water rights in Italy, on debt repayment in Iceland, and on the financial proposals of the troika in Greece. This book presents case studies of those referendums and more to analyze the ways that social movements formed in the wake of the 2008 crash have affected referendums’ development and outcomes. Looking at general issues of democracy, as well as the political effects of neoliberalism, this book is ideally suited to help us understand some of the issues around Brexit and will be read by a wide audience interested in social movements, referendums, and democratic innovation.
Recenzijos
"This timely and original book bridges the gap between social movement studies and research on direct democracy. Donatella della Porta and her co-authors forcefully show how social movements shape the dynamics of referendum campaigns in times of economic and political crises." Swen Hutter, European University Institute "In this supremely readable and interesting book, Donatella della Porta, the foremost scholar of social movements, and her colleagues address the role of `referendums from below, a timely and yet surprisingly understudied phenomenon. The book provides a very valuable contribution to the literature on direct democracy as well as an important contribution to political science." Matt Qvortrup, Coventry University
| Notes on contributors |
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v | |
| Acknowledgements |
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vii | |
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One Referendums from below: an introduction |
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1 | (38) |
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Two The context of the referendums from below: a tale of three crises |
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39 | (30) |
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Three The organisational strategies of movements in referendums from below |
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69 | (30) |
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Four Framing strategies in referendums from below |
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99 | (30) |
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Five Expanding the comparison: the water referendum in Italy |
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129 | (28) |
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Six Referendums from below: some reflections |
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157 | (26) |
| List of interviewees |
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183 | (2) |
| Notes |
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185 | (6) |
| References |
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191 | (26) |
| Index |
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217 | |
Donatella della Porta is professor of political science and dean of the Institute for Humanities and the social Sciences at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Florence, where she directs the Center on Social Movement Studies (Cosmos). She has directed a major ERC project Mobilizing for Democracy, on civil society participation in democratization processes in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America. In 2011, she was the recipient of the Mattei Dogan Prize for distinguished achievements in the field of political sociology and PhD honoris causa from the universities of Lausanne, Bucharest and Goteborg. Her main fields of research are social movements, the policing of public order, participatory democracy and political corruption.
Francis OConnor is Senior Researcher at the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt. He studied Sociology/Politics and Italian at NUI Galway and subsequently completed a Masters on Middle East Politics in SOAS. He defended his PhD thesis "Armed Social Movements and Insurgency. The PKK and its Communities of Support" at the European University Institute in 2014.
Martin Portos is at the European University Institute. He holds a degree in Political Science and Administration from the University of Santiago de Compostela and also gained an MSc in Politics Research (Comparative Government) at the University of Oxford (UK). Since 2012, he has been undertaking a full-time PhD in Political and Social Sciences at the European University Institute at Florence (Italy). His main areas of interest are: comparative politics, European comparative politics and governments, social movements, collective action and contentious politics, democratic quality and democratization processes, politics and territorial organization, nationalism and federalism.
Anna Subirats Ribas is at European University Institute. She holds a degree in Geography from Universitat Autņnoma de Barcelona (UAB, Barcelona) and a MSc in Urban Studies from University College London (UCL, London). Prior to becoming a Doctoral Researcher at the Department of Political and Social Science at the European University Institute (EUI, Florence), she worked for three years as a project developer for the metropolitan planning consulting firm Barcelona Regional. Her current research focuses on the themes of urban governance, politics of urban planning, contentious politics in processes of urban transformation and urban social movements.
