"They Cut, We Bleed": Protest Movements In Time Of Austerity

Timetable

The course takes place:

1. 8.10.2024. 16:45-18:15. Room 125

2. 15.10.2024. 16:45-18:15. Room 125

3. 29.10.2024. 15:00-16:30. Room 125

4. 29.10.2024. 16:45-18:15. Room 125

5. 5.11.2024. 15:00-16:30. Room 133

6. 5.11.2024. 16:45-18:15. Room 125

7. 12.11.2024. 15:00-16:30. Room 43

8. 12.11.2024. 16:45-18:15. Room 125

9. 26.11.2024. 15:00-16:30. Room 125

10. 26.11.2024. 16:45-18:15. Room 125

11. 10.12.2024. 16:45-18:15. Room 125

12. 7.01.2024. 15:00-16:30. Room 125

13. 7.01.2024. 16:45-18:15. Room 125

14. 21.01.2024. 15:00-16:30. Room 125

15. 21.01.2024. 16:45-18:15. Room 125

 

Module aim (aims)

- to introduce and account for the patterns of a culture of political violence in 14 European states where austerity measures were imposed;
- to introduce and explain the differences and similarities between those patterns;
- to introduce methodological and theoretical approaches useful to scrutinize cultures of political violence and the activities of the stakeholders of anti-austerity movements;
- to show how to identify the stakeholders of anti-austerity movements.

Pre-requisites in terms of knowledge, skills and social competences (where relevant)

- basic knowledge of social movements;
- competence to analyze news critically;
- competence to deal with research problems;
- command of English.

Syllabus

Week 1: Introduction: theoretical and methodological modes of approaching a culture of political violence of anti-austerity movements’ stakeholders
Week 2: Belgium: “nothing but crumbs for us”
Week 3: Austria: “too much the EU is not good for you”
Week 4: Finland: “people’s power”
Week 5: France: “enough is enough”
Week 6: Greece: “fight! they are drinking our blood”
Week 7: Spain: “not enough bread for so much chorizo”
Week 8: The Netherlands “no euro, no cry”
Week 9: Ireland: “not even our waters run free”
Week 10: England: “they cut, we bleed”
Week 11: Portugal: “we want our lives!”
Week 12: Germany: “capitalism kills”
Week 13: Slovenia: “don’t wait for spring – spring is already here”
Week 14: Italy: “nobody represents us”
Week 15: Estonia: “welcome to the Titanic”
Class attendance and participation: Class attendance is required for this course. If you must miss, come out early or arrive late to a class for any reason, please let me know in advance. Everyone is expected to come to class prepared and participate actively in work on a selected anti-austerity movement and engage in group discussions on other cases. This participation is to be based on an informed familiarity and thoughtful engagement with the assigned reading and research. Students work on their analyses and present partial and final results for 15 weeks. There is no exam.

Reading list

Andretta, Massimiliano, Lorenzo Bosi, and Donatella della Porta. 2015. “Trust and Efficacy Taking to the Streets in Times of Crisis: Variation among Activists.” In Austerity and Protest: Popular Contention in Times of Economic Crisis, edited by Marco Giugni and Maria Grasso, 133–154. London and New York: Routledge.

Bailey, David, et al. 2021. “Variegated Anti-Austerity: Exploring the Demise and Rise of Class Struggle during the Crisis of Neoliberalism.” Social Policy and Society 20(1): 158–171.

Baumgarten, Britta. 2017. “The children of the Carnation Revolution? Connections between Portugal’s anti-austerity movement and the revolutionary period 1974/1975.” Social Movement Studies 16(1): 51–63. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14742837.2016.1239195.

Beveridge, Ross, and David Featherstone. 2021. “Introduction: Anti-politics, austerity and spaces of politicisation.” Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space 39(3): 437–450.

Blyth, Mark. 2013a. Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Blyth, Mark. 2013b. “The Austerity Delusion: Why a Bad Idea Won Over the West.” Foreign Affairs 92(3): 41–56.

Canterbery, E. Ray. 2015. The Rise and Fall of Global Austerity. London and New York: World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.

Chabanet, Didier and Arnaud Lacher. 2016. “The Occupy Movement in France: Why Protests Have Not Taken Off.” In Street Politics in the Age of Austerity: From the Indignados to Occupy, edited by Marcos Ancelovici, Pascale Dufour, and Héloïse Nez, 279–294. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.

Cinalli, Manlio and Pavlos Vasilopoulos. 2015. “Feelings of Hardship and Anxiety for Contentious Politics: Economic Crisis and the Unemployed Youth in France.” In Austerity and Protest: Popular Contention in Times of Economic Crisis, edited by Marco Giugni and Maria Grasso, 217–230. London and New York: Routledge.

Císař, Ondřej and Jiří Navrátil. 2015. “At the Ballot Boxes or in the Streets and Factories: Economic Contention in the Visegrad Group.” In Austerity and Protest: Popular Contention in Times of Economic Crisis, edited by Marco Giugni and Maria Grasso, 35–56. London and New York: Routledge.

Cristancho, Camilo. 2015. “A Tale of Two Crises: Contentious Responses to Anti-Austerity Policy in Spain.” In Austerity and Protest: Popular Contention in Times of Economic Crisis, edited by Marco Giugni and Maria Grasso, 193–216. London and New York: Routledge.

della Porta, Donatella. 2015. Social Movements in Times of Austerity: Bringing Capitalism Back Into Protest Analysis. Cambridge: Polity Press.

della Porta, Donatella and Alice Mattoni (eds.). 2015. Spreading Protest: Social Movements in Times of Crisis. Colchester: ECPR Press.

della Porta, Donatella and Herbert Reiter. 1998. “The Policing of Protest in Western Democracies.” In Policing Protest: The Control of Mass Demonstrations in Western Democracies, edited by Donatella della Porta and Herbert Reiter, 1–34. Minneapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press.

Edwards, Gemma. 2014. Social Movements and Protest. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Flesher Fominaya, Cristina. 2017. “European anti-austerity and pro-democracy protests in the wake of the global financial crisis.” Social Movement Studies 16(1): 1–20. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14742837.2016.1256193. 

Gerbaudo, Paolo. 2017. “The indignant citizen: anti-austerity movements in southern Europe and the anti-oligarchic reclaiming of citizenship.” Social Movement Studies 16(1): 26–50. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14742837.2016.1194749.

Jordà, Òscar and Alan M. Taylor. 2016. “Time for Austerity: Estimating the Average Treatment Effect of Fiscal Policy.” The Economic Journal 126(590): 219–255. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ecoj.12332.

Klandermans, Bert, Jacquelien van Stekelenburg, and Marie-Louise Damen. 2015. “Beneficiary and Conscience Constituencies: On Interests and Solidarity.” In Austerity and Protest: Popular Contention in Times of Economic Crisis, edited by Marco Giugni and Maria Grasso, 155–170. London and New York: Routledge.

Malová, Darina and Branislav Dolný. 2016. “Economy and Democracy in Slovakia during the Crisis: From a Laggard to the EU Core.” Problems of Post-Communism 63(5-6): 300–312. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10758216.2016.1200952.

McMenamin, Iain Michael Breen, and Juan Muñoz-Portillo. 2015. “Austerity and credibility in the Eurozone.” European Union Politics 16(1): 45–66. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1465116514553487.

Quaranta, Mario. 2016. “Protesting in ‘hard times’: Evidence from a comparative analysis of Europe, 2000–2014.” Current Sociology 64(5): 736–756. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0011392115602937.

Rak, Joanna. 2018. Theorizing Cultures of Political Violence in Times of Austerity: Studying Social Movements in Comparative Perspective. London and New York: Routledge.

Roussos, Konstantinos, and Haris Malamidis. 2021. “Social movements and the commons: A framework for understanding collective action in crisis-ridden Southern Europe.” Mobilization: An International Quarterly 26(3): 359–379.

Ross, George. 2016. “Austerity and New Spaces for Protest: The Financial Crisis and Its Victims.” In Street Politics in the Age of Austerity: From the Indignados to Occupy, edited by Marcos Ancelovici, Pascale Dufour, and Héloïse Nez, 43–66. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.

Saunders, Clare, Silke Roth, and Cristiana Olcese. 2015. “Anti-Cuts Protests in the UK: Are We Really All in This Together?.” In Austerity and Protest: Popular Contention in Times of Economic Crisis, edited by Marco Giugni and Maria Grasso, 171–192. London and New York: Routledge.

Seymour, Richard. 2014. Against Austerity: How We Can Fix the Crisis They Made. London and New York: Pluto Press.

Taibo, Carlos. 2013. “The Spanish indignados: A movement with two souls.” European Urban and Regional Studies 20(1): 155–158. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0969776412459846.

Zamponi, Lorenzo and Joseba Fernández González. 2017. “Dissenting youth: how student and youth struggles helped shape anti-austerity mobilisations in Southern Europe.” Social Movement Studies 16(1): 64–81. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14742837.2016.1239194.

Zamponi, Lorenzo and Lorenzo Bosi. 2016. “Which Crisis? European Crisis and National Contexts in Public Discourse.” Politics & Policy 44(3): 400–426. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/polp.12156.

+ News concerning the activities of anti-austerity movements in Europe