Description
Book SynopsisContesting Austerity compares the contentious responses to austerity in Portugal and Spain between 2008 and 2015. While in Spain a sustained wave of mobilisation lasted for three years and led to a transformation of the party system, in Portugal social movements mobilised only in specific instances, trade unions dominated protest and institutional change was limited. Contesting Austerity shows that trajectories and outcomes in these countries are linked to the nature and configurations of the players in the mobilisation process.
Trade Review"
Contesting Austerity is a landmark work. Its innovative perspective highlights how the distinct political cultures of Spain and Portugal shaped reactions to the crisis. A must-read for all interested in Iberian politics and society."
. Pedro Ramos Pinto, Associate Professor in International Economic History, University of Cambridge
"
Contesting Austerity brings new insights into how movements and parties interacted in Spain and Portugal during the ‘age of austerity’. Anyone interested in understanding the effect of protest in these cases, and more generally in the post-2008 period, can do no better than to turn to this outstanding book."
. David. J. Bailey, Senior Lecturer, Department of Political Science and International Studies, University of Birmingham
"This book investigates the Spanish and Portuguese protest cycle in times of austerity. It brings back into social movement studies a debate on capitalism filling a gap in existing literature. With a dynamic view of a complex process in unsettled times, it contributes to the understanding of how the financial crisis and ensuing crisis of legitimacy opened spaces for contentious actors."
. Donatella della Porta, Director of Centre on Social Movements Studies, Scuola Normale Superiore
Table of ContentsAcronyms
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Starting point
The contentious politics of neoliberalism
European crisis
The politics of austerity in the Southern European countries
Contesting austerity in Southern Europe
Contesting austerity: social movements and the left
1 Cycles, arenas and claims: A players-based approach
Cycles of protest, political opportunity structures and eventful protests
Blurring the lines: a multi-player perspective
Repertoires, discourses and claim-making
Research design, methods and data collection
2 Preludes to the anti-austerity mobilisations: From Democratisation to the Great Recession
Contentious transitions
Contention under consolidating democracies
New millennium contentious transitions
Anti-austerity antecedents (2005-2010)
Diverging paths to the anti-austerity cycle of protest
3 Turning points: Going beyond the core
Setting the scene for austerity
Networks and players
Turning points in Portugal
Turning points in Spain
Going beyond the core: a summary
Between democracy, precarity and austerity: movement culture and frames
Networks of resistance
Opening the way forward
4 Enduring austerity: From representation to redistribution
Enduring austerity
Players and claim-making between 2009-2015
Overlapping dynamics of contention in Spain
Mareas as a hybrid: between social movements and trade unions
Housing, civil disobedience and relation with Institutions
Recentralisation, platforms and protest events: post-15M dynamics
Labour from below
From movement void to strategic alliance building in Portugal
Trade unions and movement void
Constitutional break and the QSLT – Alliance building and exclusions
Claim-making and repertoires in the QSLT
Demobilisation
A plural arena
5 From the streets to institutions: Reconfiguration of the left after the anti-austerity mobilisations
Dynamics of demobilisation
Reshaping the left: between party elites and social movements
Breaking hegemony: Podemos and the party-constellation
Municipal projects: the case of Madrid
Podemos, IU and the recomposition of the left
The road to the general elections and the party-constellation
Resilience and the recomposition of the left in Portugal
Left Bloc from 2011 to 2015: crisis, internal dynamics and reshaping of the Left in Portugal
From Congresso Democratico das Alternativas to a recomposition of the left
Political outcomes and post-2015 alliances
Conclusion
Appendices
Appendix I Chronology
Appendix II Interviews
Appendix III Protest Event Analysis Codebook
Bibliography
Index
