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Citizens' Activism and Solidarity Movements

Contending with Populism

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  • © 2019

Overview

Editors:
  1. Birte Siim

    1. Department of Culture and Global Studies, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark

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  2. Anna Krasteva

    1. Department of Political Sciences, New Bulgarian University, Sofia, Bulgaria

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    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

  3. Aino Saarinen

    1. Aleksanteri Institute, Helsinki, Finland

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  • Explores the democratic counterforces to right-wing populism amongst European citizens
  • Critically reflects upon citizenship, democracy, diversity and conflict
  • Focuses on intersectionality politics rather than identity politics and class politics

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in European Political Sociology (PSEPS)

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Table of contents (12 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xix
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  2. Citizens’ Activism and Solidarity Movements in Contemporary Europe: Contending with Populism

    • Birte Siim, Aino Saarinen, Anna Krasteva
    Pages 1-24

  3. Dilemmas of Citizenship and Evolving Civic Activism in Denmark

    • Birte Siim, Susi Meret
    Pages 25-50

  4. Against Romanophobia, for Diversity and Equality: Exploring the Activism Modes of a “Movement Within a Movement” in Finland

    • Aino Saarinen, Heini Puurunen, Airi Markkanen, Anca Enache
    Pages 51-77

  5. Forging “the People” in the UK: The Appeal of Populism and the Resistant Antibodies

    • Don Flynn, Gabriella Lazaridis
    Pages 79-110

  6. The (Im)Possibility of Creating Counter-Hegemony Against the Radical Right: The Case of Austria

    • Birgit Sauer
    Pages 111-136

  7. We Are Still Here and Staying! Refugee-Led Mobilizations and Their Struggles for Rights in Germany

    • Susi Meret, Waldemar Diener
    Pages 137-166

  8. The Anti-discrimination Activism in a Backlash Context: A Panorama of the French Situation

    • Etienne Pingaud
    Pages 167-184

  9. Racism, Post-democracy, and Economy That Kills: The Challenges of Civil Society Movements in Italy

    • Giovanna Campani
    Pages 185-211

  10. Being a Citizen in Times of Mainstreaming of Populism: Building Post-communist Contestatory and Solidary Citizenship

    • Anna Krasteva, Evelina Staykova, Ildiko Otova
    Pages 213-241

  11. Feminist Movements’ Acts of Citizenship: Experiences from Post-Socialist Slovenia

    • Mojca Pajnik
    Pages 243-263

  12. Citizens’ Activism for Reimagining and Reinventing Citizenship Countering Far-Right Populism

    • Anna Krasteva, Aino Saarinen, Birte Siim
    Pages 265-292

  13. Activist Citizens: An Afterword

    • Donatella della Porta
    Pages 293-304

  14. Back Matter

    Pages 305-308
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Keywords

About this book

This book explores the activism and solidarity movements formed by contemporary European citizens in opposition to populism, which has risen significantly in reaction to globalization, European integration and migration. It makes the counterforces to neo-nationalisms visible and re-envisions key concepts such as democracy/public sphere, power/empowerment, intersectionality and conflict/cooperation in civil society. The book makes a theoretical and empirical contribution to citizenship studies, covering several forms such as contestatory, solidary, everyday and creative citizenship. The chapters examine the diverse movements against national populism, othering and exclusion in various parts of the European Union, such as Denmark, Finland, the UK, Austria, Germany, France, Bulgaria, Slovenia and Italy. The national case studies focus on counterforces to ethnic and religious divisions, as well as genders and sexualities, various expressions of anti-migration, Romanophobia, Islamophobia and homophobia. The book’s overall focus on local, national and transnational forms of resistance is premised on values of respect and tolerance of diversity in an increasingly multi-cultural Europe.

Reviews

“This is an uplifting book featuring studies across nine European states that provide an antidote to right-wing populism: activist citizenship. It meticulously documents that citizens and non-citizens are on the scene fighting effectively against classism, homophobia, Islamophobia, misogyny, racism, xenophobia, and the whole exclusionary apparatus that’s been gradually dismantled over the last few decades. It affirms decisively that these citizens and non-citizens are creating transversal dialogues across differences with intersectional political performatives.” (Professor Engin Isin, Queen Mary University of London, UK)

“This is an impressive and important volume, addressing some of the most urgent contemporary political issues such as resisting the rise of contemporary populist and right-wing movements in different parts of Europe. The book explores these issues through a nuanced, intersectional, comparative theoretical and methodological framework, combining sensitivity to different histories, spaces and differential power relations with the common impact of neo-liberal globalisation. The editors and the contributors are some of the best feminist and activist scholars in the field.” (Professor Nira Yuval-Davis, University of East London, UK)

Editors and Affiliations

  • Department of Culture and Global Studies, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark

    Birte Siim

  • Department of Political Sciences, New Bulgarian University, Sofia, Bulgaria

    Anna Krasteva

  • Aleksanteri Institute, Helsinki, Finland

    Aino Saarinen

About the editors

Birte Siim is Professor at the Department of Culture and Global Studies, Aalborg University, Denmark, where she has been responsible for Gender Research and Danish EU teams on European studies of citizenship, gender equality, nationalism, and diversity. Siim co-edited Negotiating Gender and Diversity in the European Public Sphere (2013).

Anna Krasteva is Professor of Political Sciences, Founder and Director of CERMES (Centre for Refugees, Migration and Ethnic Studies) at the New Bulgarian University, Bulgaria. She co-edited Recent Social Trends in Bulgaria (2000). She is editor-in-chief of the international journal Southeastern Europe.

Aino Saarinen is Senior Researcher Emerita at Aleksanteri Institute, Centre for Russian and Eastern European Studies, University of Helsinki, Finland, where she has been responsible for Nordic-Russian projects and Finnish-EU teams focusing on agency and gender violence, and migration. Saarinen co-edited Women and Transformation in Russia (2014).

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