Another Europe: Conceptions and practices of democracy in the European social forums

Given the recent focus on the challenges to representative democracy, and the search for new institutions and procedures that can help to channel increasing participation, this book offers empirical insights on alternative conceptions of democracy and the actors that promote them. With a focus on the conceptions and practices of democracy within contemporary social movements in Europe, this volume contributes to the debate on the different dimensions of democracy, especially in its participative and deliberative forms. On the basis of an in-depth analysis of European Social Forums, gathering thousands of social movement organizations and tens of thousands of activists from all Europe, the book explores the transnational dimension of democracy and addresses a relevant, and little analyzed aspect of Europeanization: the Europeanization of social movements. From a methodological point of view, the research innovates by covering a group of individuals traditionally neglected in previous studies: social movement activists. Qualitative and quantitative methods are employed to research individual motivations as well as environmental dynamics. The various chapters combine analysis of the individuals’ attitudes and behavior with that of the organizational characteristics, procedures and practices of democracy. Providing a cross-national comparison on the global justice movement, the theoretical challenges of the new wave of protest and offering rich empirical data on contemporary activism, this book will appeal to students and scholars of comparative politics, sociology, political sociology, social movement studies, as well as transnational relations.

1. Why research democracy and the European Social Forum? An Introduction Donatella della Porta 2. The ESF organizational process in a diachronic perspective Nicolas Haering, Cristopher Haug and Lorenzo Mosca 3. Communicating the Forum Lorenzo Mosca, Dieter Rucht, Simon Teune and Sara Lopez Martin 4. Models of democracy: how activists see democracy in the movement Massimiliano Andretta and Donatella della Porta 5. Democracy from below: activists and institutions Donatella della Porta and Marco Giugni 6. The socio-demography of global activism Massimiliano Andretta, Marko Bandler, Nicolas Haeringer, Ilhame Hajji, Manuel Jiménez and Isabelle Sommier 7. The European Social Forum and the Organizational Dimension Clare Saunders, Massimiliano Andretta, Nicolas Haeringer, Ilhame Hajji, and Isabelle Sommier 8. How deliberative democracy (net)works Massimiliano Andretta, Iosif Botetzagias, Moses Boudourides, Olga Kioufegi, and Mundo Yang 9. Protest and the Forum Marco Giugni, Alessandro Nai, and Herbert Reiter 10. The European Left and the ESF Massimiliano Andretta and Herbert Reiter 11. Conclusion Donatella della Porta