Federico Alagna (2022), Civil Society and Municipal Activism Around Migration in the EU: A Multi-Scalar Alliance-Making
Abstract:
Civil society and municipal actors – and the interaction between one another – have become increasingly relevant in EU migration governance. Moving from this understanding, this article explores instances of migration activism in connection with the proactive and contentious role of cities. It does so through the in-depth analysis of the dual EU-wide network From the Sea to the City/International Alliance of Safe Harbours, which gathers numerous civil society initiatives and municipalities and aims to achieve a radical change in EU migration policies. Based on extensive empirical research, my contribution illustrates why the emergence of a multi-scalar alliance between civil society and municipal actors around migration is the result of the interaction between the political agency of these actors and the changing institutional opportunities and constraints at different governance levels. In doing so, it explores different spatial and political dimensions, from cities to transnational arenas, reflecting on their significance in the construction of an EU-wide contentious politics of migration.
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https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14650045.2023.2230902
Chiara Milan (2023), Emotions in Action: The Role of Emotions in Refugee Solidarity Activism
Abstract: This article investigates the different types of emotions that result from participation in refugee solidarity activism, investigating how they change over time and to what extent they explain why individuals remain involved in action in spite of unfavorable circumstances. By bringing together scholarship on collective action with the literature on emotions, the article delves into the emotional response of sustained engagement in refugee solidarity activism. The study is based on the analysis of 40 in-depth interviews with solidarity activists and volunteers involved in grassroots refugee solidarity initiatives along the Western Balkans route between 2015 and 2021, as well as on participant observation conducted between 2016 and 2021 in North Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The diachronic perspective presented in the article suggests that contrasting reactive emotions emerged during the initial stage of mobilization, while moral emotions were activated at a later stage. In the long run enduring affective bonds that had been formed with both solidarity peers and people on the move proved decisive for keeping individuals involved in action.
Access the article: https://doi.org/10.1111/socf.12926
Adam Fagan & Aron Buzogány (2022) Beyond Europeanization: political ecology and environmentalism in Central and Eastern Europe, Environmental Politics, 31:7, 1203-1213
Abstract: The legacy of Europeanization was a battery of laws, formal mechanisms for compliance and regulation, and institutionalised access for non-state actors. Despite a decade of so-called ‘democratic backsliding’, EU environmental standards and policy remain as normative benchmarks for all countries across the region. The new member states are no clear outliers in terms of compliance even if they have a tendency to support less green climate and energy legislation at the EU level. Yet civil society autonomy and freedom to operate have been severely constrained in most of the states of the region, resulting in ‘shrinking spaces’ for civil society actors that are critical of de-democratizing tendencies. The EU has been sharply criticised for failing to protect the liberal democratic order in the region. Indeed, if the EU conjures a reaction within protests and actions of civil society and social movements, it is mostly with negative connotations, such as failure to hold domestic elites to account or encouraging mega-developments. All of this suggests that, over 30 years since environmental activism first came to political prominence in the region, there is a need to re-engage with a host of domestic factors that had become somewhat obfuscated by the emphasis on Europeanization.
Access the article: 10.1080/09644016.2022.2147652
Aron Buzogány (2022): Natural Allies? External Governance and Environmental Civil Society Organizations in the EU’s Eastern Partnership
Abstract: Civil society networks have received little attention when it comes to sectoral analysis of adaptation of EU rules beyond borders. This article offers a remedy by conceptualizing EU influence as an opportunity structure, a resource, and a discursive frame used by civil society organizations. Empirically, it describes how EU rules are used to support environmental reforms by civil society networks in Georgia and Ukraine. Civil society activism and mobilization can lead to high levels of policy approximation despite weak sectoral conditionality, entrenched domestic interests, and low public salience.
Access the article: https://doi.org/10.1080/10758216.2021.2025404
Aron Buzogány, Patrick Scherhaufer (2022): Framing different energy futures? Comparing Fridays for Future and Extinction Rebellion in Germany
Abstract: Combining research on sociotechnical imaginaries and social movements, this contribution examines how two major actors of the climate justice movement active in Germany – Fridays for Future and Extinction Rebellion – frame the discourse on climate change and just transitions. We focus on narratives of both movements and their justification strategies based on the analysis of frames. Using material produced by the two movements, the paper comparatively analyses the movement’s frames on social, political, economic and epistemic orders. The results suggest that the two groups are part of the same discursive community but emphasize different aspects of just energy futures.
Access the article: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2022.102904
Aron Buzogány, Szabina Kerényi & Gergely Olt (2022): Back to the grassroots? The shrinking space of environmental activism in illiberal Hungary, Environmental Politics, DOI: 10.1080/09644016.2022.2113607
Abstract: This article illustrates the post-euphoric development of the environmental movement in the period since 2010 that was marked by democratic backsliding and the consolidation of ‘illiberalism’ in Hungary. Embedded from a historical perspective that spans the last three decades, we present two case studies of urban environmental mobilisation and identify ‘localization’, the reorientation towards grassroot activism, as a new trend driven by the closure of political opportunity structures. Localization combines with the alienation of protesters from institutional channels of influence-seeking and the weakening of ties with potential political allies, such as political parties or professionalised NGOs, and the increase of mistrust between the different actors
Access the article: https://doi.org/10.1080/09644016.2022.2113607
Chiara Milan & Luisa Chiodi, (2022), Grassroots European Solidarity. Italian Solidarity Movements in the Western Balkans in the 1990s and 2020s and Their Visions of Europe, Southeastern Europe n.46 pp. 248–270
Abstract:
This article investigates how the idea of European solidarity and the vision of Europe changed over time amongst Italian groups and individuals engaged in solidarity actions in support of Internally Displaced Persons (idp s) and refugees in the Western Balkans in the 1990s and 2020s. By means of document analysis and in-depth qualitative interviews, the article shows that individuals partaking in solidarity initiatives framed their action as European grassroots solidarity, enacted to replace the institutional solidarity that the EU failed to offer. While solidarity groups in the 1990s saw the EU-in-the-making as alternative to the power politics of member states worsening the conflicts in the region, those mobilising in the 2020s expressed a more critical and disenchanted vision characterised by rage, disillusionment, and disappointment towards an EU perceived as having betrayed its ideal foundations while dealing with migration along the Balkan route.
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Pešić J., Vukelić J. (2022), 'Europeanisation from below at the semi-periphery: the movement against small hydropower in Serbia'. Sociologija, DOI: https://doi.org/10.2298/SOC2201005P
Abstract: This paper focuses on Let’s Defend the Rivers of Stara Planina, a local environmental initiative that has managed to scale up and transnationalise (Europeanise) from below and to generate sufficient pressure on national power-holders to amend existing legislation and halt further construction of small hydropower plants in protected natural areas. Linking the concepts of environmentalism of the poor/dispossessed and the transnationalisation (Europeanisation) of environmental protests through the example of Serbian protests against small hydropower plants, we explore how a local movement grew out of a tradition of non-politicised everyday environmentalism, transformed into a rebellion of the dispossessed and then tried to organise at both national and transnational level, using assistance from EU institutions and international environmental organisations to leverage national authorities and developers, while at the same time remaining critical of certain EU environmental policies and practices. This study is based on discursive analysis of the content posted to the official Facebook group and website of Let’s Defend the Rivers of Stara Planina.
Access the article: http://www.sociologija.org/admin/published/2022_64/1/752.pdf
Szabó, I. G., Golden, D. and Erne, R. (2021) 'Why Do some Labour Alliances Succeed in Politicizing Europe Across Borders? A Comparison of the Right2Water and Fair Transport European Citizens' Initiatives'. Journal of Common Market Studies, DOI: 10.1111/jcms.13279. (ABS 3)
Abstract: Under what conditions can organized labour successfully politicize the European integration process across borders? To answer this question, we compare the European Citizens' Initiatives (ECIs) of two European trade union federations: EPSU's successful Right2Water ECI and ETF's unsuccessful Fair Transport ECI. Our comparison reveals that actor-centred factors matter – namely, unions' ability to create broad coalitions. Successful transnational labour campaigns, however, also depend on structural conditions, namely, the prevailing mode of EU integration pressures faced by unions at a given time. Whereas the Right2Water ECI pre-emptively countered commodification attempts by the European Commission in water services, the Fair Transport ECI attempted to ensure fair working conditions after most of the transport sector had been liberalized. Vertical EU integration attempts that commodify public services are thus more likely to generate successful transnational counter-movements than the horizontal integration pressures on wages and working conditions that followed earlier successful EU liberalization drives.
Access the article: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jcms.13279
Watch the video recording of the event Civil Society, Political Contention and European Enlargement
Organized by the University of Belgrade, together with OBC Transeuropa, TraPoCo Jean Monnet Network and Centro Studi di Politica Internazionale, and with the participation of researchers, policy makers and representatives of civil society, the regional policy event focused on European integration process of Serbia and the Western Balkan region, with a focus on the role of civil society actors (NGOs, grassroots organizations, social movements, etc.) and their claims in various policy areas, in particular in the environmental field
POLICY PAPER
Environmental initiatives in Serbia and their European perspective, by Jelena Pešić and Jelisaveta Vukelić, University of Belgrade – Faculty of Philosophy, partner of the TRAPOCO project
The environmental movements in Serbia have been developing rapidly in recent years. Despite some recent successes, they face several challenges in the long-term perspective. The EU has already done a lot in providing support to the advancement of civil society in Serbia and in the Western Balkans region, and its role is still important in supporting the development of the environmental movement in the region. One of the pathways is the reliance on the existing mechanism of Europeanisation (transnationalisation) to develop an effective system of environmental decision-making from below.
Video recording of the Seminar by J. Pešić, University of Belgrade, J. Petrović, University of Belgrade, Aron Buzogany, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences BOKU of Vienna, at Scuola Normale Superiore, Florence in the framework of the Jean Monnet project "Transnational Political Contention in Europe"
Call for papers, International Conference Transnational Political Contention and European Integration - Universität für Bodenkultur, 21-22 September, 2022, Vienna, Austria
The aim of the conference is to bring together social movement studies and research on the European Union by facilitating a discussion between researchers, activists and other practitioners. Abstract should be sent until February 15th 2022
ECHR: Romania has violated LGBT+ rights
Following a complaint by 21 couples, the European Court of Human Rights is asking Romania to legally recognise same-sex families. For civil society this is a historic sentence
Eastern Europe: environment and transnational activism
Through transnational political activism, social actors contribute to deepening democratic processes on a European level, also in the environmental sector. An interview with Aron Buzogány, professor for political science at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna
Why do some labour alliances succeed in politicising Europe across borders?
Despite the introduction of the European Citizens’ Initiative a decade ago, transnational democratic mobilisations remain a rarity in Europe. Yet as Imre Szabó, Darragh Golden and Roland Erne explain, there remains scope for organisations to build support for public services and oppose privatisation across borders. Drawing on a comparison of two European Citizens’ Initiatives put forward by trade unions, they identify some of the key factors that determine success.
Imagining Europe
Civic movements that go beyond national borders, populism, and the construction of the common European home. We talked about it with sociologist Paul Blokker, starting from what is happening with the "Conference on the Future of Europe"
Handmaids of transnational democracy? EU politicization and citizens’ initiatives by trade unions
‘Nationalism becomes predominantly a popular cause, […]. Internationalism, at the same stroke, starts to change camps – assuming new forms in the ranks of capital.’ This is how the historian Perry Anderson depicts the emergence of two groupings whose struggle shapes politics in our age: populist nationalism on one side against elitist internationalism on the other.
Albania, civil society on the move
In the last thirty years in Albania, only the main parties have managed to bring people to the streets to protest, with some notable exceptions. An interview with researcher Klodiana Beshku
Success and failure of transnational union campaigns
The European citizens' initiatives right2water and fair transport. Read in German
Rights at work: together, beyond borders, is better
Two cases – the Right2Water campaign and the protests of Ryanair pilots – show how important transnational alliances are for the affirmation of workers' rights. We talked about it with Imre Szabo, Darragh Golden, and Graham Finlay
Serbia, new environmental protests
In Serbia, the environmental issue is becoming an increasingly important social and political matter. Protests against some controversial laws are bringing numerous citizens and environmental associations to demonstrate in various cities
Breaking (Into) Fortress Europe: Are Bottom-Up Migration Policies Still Possible?
The EU approach to migration is based on strongly government-centred, restrictive policies, impervious to the external motions of grassroots actors. Yet, there might still be room for a systemic change from below
Slovenia: young environmentalists and the pandemic, the unexpected consequences
In Slovenia, as in the rest of the world, Covid-19 has upset the dynamics of youth activism, including the environmental one, which was in full swing before the pandemic. Despite the assembly ban, the closed universities, and the economic crisis, environmentalists have achieved a historic referendum victory with another unexpected consequence: to take root in the rural country, traditionally impervious to mobilisations
Solidarity with Bihac and the importance of transnational ties
Since 2018, many associations, international grassroots movements, and informal groups have taken action to support people in transit along the Balkan route. They stress the need for networking to counter the increasingly widespread criminalisation of organisations in solidarity with migrants
Serbia, fighting for the environment in fragile areas
Environmental battles in peripheral areas in Serbia are little known and little studied. Activists and citizens encounter many difficulties in mobilising. Interview with social researchers Jelisaveta Petrovic and Jelena Pesic from the University of Belgrade
The caravan for freedom of movement
In Trieste, a civil society initiative focuses on the themes of hospitality, transnational solidarity, and the need to build "the anti-border"
A historic verdict: Italy's pushbacks to Slovenia are illegal
The application of the readmission agreement between Italy and Slovenia is illegitimate. This was confirmed by the Court of Rome, that accepted the appeal of a Pakistani citizen who had arrived in Trieste via the Balkan route and was then pushed back to Slovenia and then Bosnia and Herzegovina
OBC Transeuropa and Normale Pisa together in the TraPoCo project
The research project “Transnational Political Contention in Europe (TraPoCo)”, supported by the European Commission and dedicated to the study of trans-European political activism, is underway. The focus will be on the role of movements, non-governmental organisations, activists, and trade unions in strenghtening the space of rights and democracy in Europe
EVENTS
jun Final Conference Transnational Political Contention and the protection of rights and democracy in Europe
oct Visiting Lecture Strengthening workers' rights in the European Union: the minimum wage directive
