Patterns and Varieties of Political Participation in Southern Europe: Innovative, Diversified and Contentious

Abstract

In recent times, citizen participation in politics, especially via the conventional forms, is universally questioned. In Europe, both the political and party systems have undergone dramatic changes, the most important of which point to an overall questioning of institutional politics. This is more apparent in southern Europe with the harsh experience of the various memorandums of understanding with the troika. In this context especially, political participation is more diversified and more innovative, yet understudied. Moreover, contentious forms of participation remain unconnected to accounts dealing with the challenges of contemporary democracy. The phenomenon of citizens and social groups seeking alternative and confrontational channels of influence or resistance by attempting to challenge the legitimacy of political institutions and actors may not be new, but it has not been sufficiently incorporated by scholars into the larger study of crisis environments. How economic malaise unfolds into societal behaviour cannot be fully appreciated without assessing the patterns and causes of social contention. The aim of the panel is to provide in-depth exploratory discourse and explanatory models as to the varieties of political participation in southern European countries from a critical political sociology and political science perspective. Why some forms of political participation flourish over others? What is the role of the internet and the media in initiating, spreading or obstructing contentious acts? What are the main definitional, organizational, and socio-demographic features of political participation evidenced in each country of southern Europe. What kind of civil society groups go beyond conventional forms of political consumerism by adopting innovative organizational and participatory tools? The panel invites empirical papers that aim at answering the above and other related questions in an attempt to interrogate further the particularities of the countries of southern Europe, connecting them to the literature on political participation.

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