Photo: “25 April 2013” Demonstration (Portugal Liberty day) – Pedro Ribeiro Simões

New article discusses Europeanization in the context of the crisis, focusing on the relationship between social movements and institutional politics

Focusing on the relationship between social movements and institutional politics, an aspect still little explored, the new article published in the Journal of Common Market Studies, “From Protesting Against Troika Bailouts to Pro-EU Governing in Greece and Portugal: Europeanisation and Institutionalisation Processes” by Guya Accornero, from the Centre for Research and Studies in Sociology (CIES-Iscte) and deputy director of the Observatory of Democracy and Political Representation, and Maria Kousis, from the Department of Sociology at the University of Crete, discusses Europeanization in the context of the crisis.

In this research, the authors use two case studies, Greece and Portugal, to collect primary data on anti-austerity protests and the interactions between protesters and institutional actors, seeking to answer what was the role of EU-related issues in the development of anti-austerity protests and what was its impact on national policies in Portugal and Greece. To answer this question, the claims, objectives, and attributions of responsibility of national social movements are analysed, considering also organizational alliances, strategic choices, organizational and activist trajectories and interactions between movements and other actors, such as left parties and institutional actors. 

The main hypothesis developed by the authors is that the way Social Movements perceive and define the European Union issues, and the claims related to it, are essential elements to understand the development of protests, the interactions and collaborations between actors and the impacts on national policies through institutionalization and Europeanization processes. Thus, the findings show that the anti-troika protests in the two countries and their impacts on institutional policy did not result in Euroscepticism, but rather in a critical pro-Europeanism.

The full article can be read at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jcms.13509.

The Journal of Common Market Studies is a multidisciplinary journal that publishes high-quality articles that promote debates in European studies, and for over 50 years has been an important forum for meaningful debates on European policy based on scientific research.