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This Open Access book investigates the transnational dimension of activism exploring how and why non-state actors scale up contention from the local to the transnational arena, how they translate their grievances and claims into the transnational arena, and how they organize across borders. Moving beyond the analysis of individual campaigns, or a single-country or single-issue focus, which are already well represented in the literature, this volume takes a comprehensive approach. It investigates transnational activities across various policy fields and their respective transnational arenas of contention namely migration, labour struggles, human rights, and environmental/climate justice across a range of geographic contexts. Drawing on extensive fieldwork, the contributions in this volume examine cases of transnational contention spanning the EU and its broader neighborhood, from the Western Balkans to the South Caucasus and the Mediterranean. Focusing on European spaces as the arena where civil society actors mobilize, this volume offers insights into their diverse repertoires of contention and discursive strategies, and how they refer to the European Union as the direct or indirect target of their claims. Key cases include grassroots movements, NGO campaigns, pro-European forces, Eurosceptic parties, healthcare and climate justice activism, and the organizational dynamics surrounding migration-related contentious politics.
Offering guidelines for future research on civil society actors in the EU and its neighbourhood, this volume is essential reading for scholars and students of political sociology, political science, European studies, as well as practitioners and policy makers concerned with the future of civil society activism in the transnational arena.
List of contents
1.The Transnationalization of Political Contention in Europe and its Wider Neighbourhood During the Political Backlash: an Introduction.- Part I: Seizing the Opportunities of the EU Multilevel Governance Framework.- 2. Seizing Transnational Opportunities in Times of Political Backlash: The Transformation of Civil Society Organizations Activism in Italy.- 3. The Contentious Politics of Migration in the EU: The Effects of Organisations Internal Dynamics on Transnational Networking.- 4. Contemporary Feminism as a Transnational Wave: Multilevel Opportunities, Processes of Diffusion and Common Challenges.- Part II: Framing Europe.- 5. Transnationalization vs Eco-Nationalism: Discursive Framing of Environmental Struggles in Serbia.- 6. Towards a Transnational Public Sphere? The New Climate Movement and the European Union.- 7. Defending the Status Quo: the Dilemmas of Anti-Brexit Activism After the 2016 Referendum.- 8. The EU s Human Rights Promotion in the South Caucasus: Underpinning Logics and Alternative Imaginations.- Part III: Scaling Contention Upwards Through Transnational Networks.- 9. Supranational Pressures and Multilevel Responses: Healthcare Activism in the Era of the EU s New Economic Governance Regime.- 10. The Transnationalization of the Far-Right: Between Movements and Parties.- 11. Scaling-up Contention at a Euro-Mediterranean Level: Non-State Actors Navigating Between Bureaucratic Alliances and Contentious Strategies.- 12. Horizontal and Vertical Integration and Transnational Labour Activism: A Power Resource Approach.- 13. Transnationalizing Contention: Some Conclusions.
About the author
Chiara Milan is Assistant Professor in Political Sociology in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the Scuola Normale Superiore, Italy, and coordinator of the Jean Monnet Network “Transnational Political Contention in Europe” (TraPoCo).
Aron Buzogány is Assistant Professor in Political Science at the University of Natural Resources and Life Science (BOKU) in Vienna and member of the Jean Monnet Network “Transnational Political Contention in Europe” (TraPoCo).
