Europeanisation from below: movimenti, cittadini ed Europa

This research group analyzes the renewed importance of European identities in the contemporary protest arena. While the wave of anti-austerity protests in the early 2010s reemphasized that the time of ‘permissive consensus’ concerning European integration is long gone (Hooghe & Marks 2009), it was also marked by the ‘low visibility’ (Flesher Fominaya 2017) or even ‘invisibility’ (Kaldor & Selchow 2013: 79) of Europe. Anti-austerity activists did not regard the European Union (EU) as a polity where political alternatives could be sought (Pianta & Gerbaudo 2015).
This research group focuses on both progressive and regressive forms of social mobilisation and trasnationalisation and diffusion, with an attention to types of actions encompassing a broad range from street politics to social media storms and artistic forms of protests (and popular art sas protests, e.g. music , visual arts, perfomance arts, etc.).

More recently, activists from across the political spectrum are increasingly advancing their own ‘visions of Europe’ based on strong European identities (Caiani & Weisskircher 2019). In the second half of the 2010s, mobilization in favor of ‘Europe’ and against ‘nationalism’ became a crucial element for many left-wing and liberal activists, especially in the face of the significant increase of far-right parties’ electoral successes. Simultaneously, far-right groups organized protests in response to the intensifying ‘refugee crisis’ (Caiani and Císař 2019, Castelli Gattinara & Pirro 2019). These protesters also emphasized a European identity, albeit to propagate the so-called ‘defense’ of Europe against alleged threats of ‘Islamization’ and ‘decay’.
In this research group we investigate social movements’ (both progressive and conservative) and citizens europanization from below, namely the development of European positions (in favour or critical toward the EU), mobilisations and issues and targets in civil society. Case studies are Italy as well as other Western and Eastern/Central European countries which are connected with similar project to this research group (line of research). One example is the project NEB on European Narratives From Below ( ‘Tackling illiberal narratives and Euroscepticism from below’, Europe for Citizens Program), of which this research group is part (PI Manuela Caiani,  collaborator Benedetta Carlotti). Other lines of research focuse on initiatives and practices of urban feminism(s) within the European contexts, as well as sport and politics in comparative European perspective.

This research group relies on mixed method approaches and qualitative and quantitative data.

Progetti vinti/grant:

1. 2023-2026 CIDAPE ‘Climate, Inequality, and Democratic Action: The Force of Political Emotions’, HORIZON-CL2-2023-DEMOCRACY-01-04, Principal investigator.
2. 2022-2025 AUTHLIB ‘Neo-Authoritarianisms in Europe and the liberal democratic response’, Principal investigator.

Paper presentati:

1. The role of sexist attitudes and gender in the electoral success of the Italian far-right (section 12 - gender and politics; paper presentato alla conferenza annual della società italiana di scienza politica, SISP, sept. 2023
2. Challengers or the Establishment? How Populists Talk about populists (section 8 - parties, public opinion, elections), paper presentato alla conferenza annual della società italiana di scienza politica, SISP, sept. 2023

Panel chaired:

by Manuela Caiani, Enrico Padoan & Karlo Kralj at the ECPR conference 2020-2023, ESA Conference 2020, Conferenza CES (Società Europea Studi Europei) and 2022.

Convegni e workshop organizzati, key notes (Caiani):

• ECPR General Conference August 2024, Section on “Radical right movements in the 21st century: Mobilization, Formations and Consequences”, Section Chair/ Co-Chair: Manuela Caiani (SNS) and Kathleen Blee, University of Pittsburgh 
• ECPR General Conference August 2024, Panel on “The RR and anti-Vax protests in Europe and beyond”, panel chair/co-chair: Manuela Caiani (SNS) and Pál Susánszky (Centre for Social Sciences, Budapest)
• meeting semestrali di ricerca con i partners del progetto PIE (si veda sopra), in Italia (SNS), Ungheria, Svezia e Austria: 2020-2023

Third mission:

• 2023-present: Co-Director of the Osservatorio Internazionale sulla Coesione Sociale OCIS
• 2021-2023: Lo Standing Group “Movimenti Sociali e Partecipazione Politica”, della SISP, società Italiana di scienza politica, coordinato da Manuela Caiani

Pubblicazioni:

• Manuela Caiani et al, European Narratives from below, Routledge, 2024.
• Caiani, M. (2023), Framing and social movements, Discourse Studies.
• Other recent pubblications: https://sns.academia.edu/ManuelaCaiani

Attrezzature di ricerca dedicate:

• software per l’analisi qualitativa del contenuto (MaxqDA),
• software per la social network analysis (UCINET)
• software per l’analisi emozionale del contenuto (ACASM)
• software di statistica sociale SPSS