311 - Thematic Session. When Changing the Conversation Matters: Lessons from Southern Europe

Session Submission Type: Invited Session

Description

Description: Southern Europe provides a useful vantage point for addressing the 2016 meeting theme. Even before the recent wave of protests over austerity policies, countries in this region were world leaders in the sheer volume and public visibility of social protest, much of it focused on efforts to change the public agenda through discourse and mobilization. Yet the impact of popular energies expressed in the streets has varied enormously between – and within – these countries. Discursive creativity has been a frequent mark of protests but the ability of activists to achieve favorable results in matters of public policy – and other societal outcomes – has been anything but constant. Spain’s M-15 movement of Indignados has reoriented tendencies in public opinion but has been denounced by elected office-holders who question its legitimacy. In contrast in Portugal, on crucial occasions, office holders have not only engaged in ‘conversation’ with protesters but have also changed policies in response to public pressure. This cross-national contrast is reflected in the evolution of distributional outcomes in the two countries. Greece and Italy have faced economic challenges and waves of protest that hold much in common with the salience of social movements in Portugal and Spain but the ability of conversation and discourse to achieve at least some of their goals has varied greatly within these countries. This thematic panel will focus on the southern European experience, exploring the impact of protesters’ discursive innovation and energy on socio-structural and political change. Most of the papers will engage in comparative analysis, drawing contrasts within – and beyond – southern Europe.

Sub Unit

• Thematic Sessions

Session Organizer

• Robert M. Fishman, Carlos III University

Presider

• Mabel Berezin, Cornell University

Individual Presentations

• From Protest in the Streets to Party-System Change: Spain’s Indignados Movement and the Growth of Podemos - Eduardo Romanos, Universidad Complutense de Madrid

• Political Claims and Alternative Forms of Resilience Confronting Hard Economic Times in Greece, Spain and Italy - Maria Kousis, University of Crete; Lorenzo Bosi, European University Institute; Camilo Cristancho Mantilla, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

• Foreign Conversations: How Northern Europe Differs from Southern Europe - Mabel Berezin, Cornell University; Elisabeth Becker; Thomas Ralph Davidson, Cornell University

• When Voices in the Streets Can(not) Change the World: Origins of the Iberian Divide in Inclusion - Robert M. Fishman, Carlos III University

Discussant

• Jeff Goodwin, New York University