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Cosmos

The Centre on Social Movement Studies

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COSMOS Talks

The COSMOS Talks are public discussions on cutting edge contentious politics research from across various theoretical, methodological and disciplinary traditions. They aim to provide feedback on preliminary results of current research projects, future research projects proposals and drafts of forthcoming papers, articles and book chapters. The COSMOS Talks also aim at improving synergies and networking among researchers from the COSMOS community as well as from other universities.

We ask presenters to send a paper (of no more than 30 pages) to the organizers, no later than a week before the scheduled talk. Each session lasts for two hours. Paper givers are given maximum 20 minutes to introduce their works. Preselected discussants are given about 10 minutes each to give constructive feedback. The floor will then be open to the public. All participants are asked to read the paper in advance.

Friendship as a Political Concept: Kurdish Youth Politics in the 1990s, Delal Aydin, SAR research fellow at SNS/COSMOS

Date: 17/06/2020

Place: 2:30-3:30 PM, Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, Scuola Normale Superiore. Online Talk.

Category: COSMOS Talk

Abstract:

 

Citizen-Initiated Mechanisms of Direct Democracy: A Way to Minimize the Risks of Social Explosions? – David Altman, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

Date: 19/02/2020

Place: 4:00-5:30 PM, Department of Political and Social Sciences, Scuola Normale Superiore, Palazzo Strozzi (5th Floor), Piazza Strozzi, 50123 Firenze

Category: COSMOS Talk

Abstract:

 

Right, Click, Remove – Donatella Della Ratta, John Cabot University

Date: 04/02/2020

Place: 2:30-4:30 PM, Department of Political and Social Sciences, Scuola Normale Superiore, Palazzo Strozzi (5th Floor), Piazza Strozzi, 50123 Firenze

Category: COSMOS Talk

Abstract:

 

Democracy and the Public Sphere – Hans Jorg Trenz, University of Copenhagen

Date: 04/12/2019

Place: 10 AM-1 PM, Aula Simone del Pollauiolo, Palazzo Strozzi (5th Floor), Piazza Strozzi, Firenze

Category: COSMOS Talk

Abstract:

 

Biographical experiences and place attachments in environmental contents : the example of anti-wind turbines activists in Southern France – Stephanie Dechezell, Science Po, Aix en Provence

Date: 04/11/2019

Place: 2:00-4:00 PM, Department of Political and Social Sciences, Scuola Normale Superiore, Palazzo Strozzi (5th Floor), Piazza Strozzi, 50123 Firenze

Category: COSMOS Talk

Abstract:

 

The Public Opinion perspective in Social Movement Studies. Three applications: Anti-austerity, Feminism and Pro/Antirefugees movements, Josep Lobera, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid

Date: 23/10/2019

Place: 3:30-5:30 pm, Department of Political and Social Sciences (5th floor), Palazzo Strozzi, Piazza degli Strozzi, Firenze

Category: COSMOS Talk

Abstract:

 

Politics, parties and movements in Portugal’s left turn, Guya Accornero (Lisbon University Institute) and Francisco Louçã (Conselho de Estado)

Date: 16/10/2019

Place: 3:30-6 pm, Department of Political and Social Sciences, Scuola Normale Superiore, Palazzo Strozzi, Firenze

Category: COSMOS Talk

Abstract:

 

Resisting Brexit – Adam Fagan, King’s College

Date: 11/10/2019

Place: 2-4 pm, Department of Political and Social Sciences, Palazzo Strozzi (5th floor), Firenze

Category: COSMOS Talk

Abstract:

 

Tea Party Emergence – John McCarty, Penn State University

Date: 01/10/2019

Place: 2-4 pm, Department of Political and Social Sciences, Scuola Normale Superiore, Palazzo Strozzi, Firenze

Category: COSMOS Talk

Abstract:

 

Promoting opposition? Conceptualizing the intersection of movement strategies on environmental ‘goods’ and ‘bads’ – Joost de Moor, Stockholm University

Date: 05/06/2019

Place: 11am - Aula Filippo Strozzi, Scuola Normale Superiore, Palazzo Strozzi

Category: COSMOS Talk

Abstract:

 

Experiments in Democracy: Digital Communication and Social Movements – Anastasia Kavada, University of Westminster

Date: 29/05/2019

Place: 11 am - Aula Simone del Pollaiolo, Scuola Normale Superiore, Palazzo Strozzi, Firenze

Category: COSMOS Talk

Abstract:

 

Social Movements and Translation: Democracy, Power and Communication – Nicole Doerr, University of Copenhagen

Date: 07/05/2019

Place: 11am - Aula Filippo Strozzi, Scuola Normale Superiore, Palazzo Strozzi

Category: COSMOS Talk

Abstract:

How can people work together across linguistic differences in local communities and transnational networks engaged in solidarity with disempowered communities?

 

Party Responses to Social Movements. An Empirical Assessment – Daniela Piccio, University of Torino

Date: 02/04/2019

Place: 11am - Aula Filippo Strozzi, Scuola Normale Superiore, Palazzo Strozzi

Category: COSMOS Talk

Abstract:

The talk will show that political parties incorporated many of the claims raised by the 1970s ‘participatory revolution’, and that they did so to a greater extent than it is conventionally acknowledged.

 

Disassembling the hybridity of networked activism – Emiliano Treré, Cardiff University

Date: 20/03/2019

Place: 3pm - Sala Simone del Pollaiolo, Scuola Normale Superiore, Palazzo Strozzi

Category: COSMOS Talk

Abstract:

A talk on the hybrid nature of networked activism

 

The consequences of welfare related protests in Sweden – Katrin Uba, Uppsala University

Date: 28/02/2019

Place: 11am - Aula Filippo Strozzi, Scuola Normale Superiore, Piazza degli Strozzi 1, Firenze

Category: COSMOS Talk

Abstract:

11am – Aula Filippo Strozzi, Scuola Normale Superiore, Piazza degli Strozzi 1, Firenze

 

News

26/02/2020

CFP Athens conference "Capitalism, Democracy, Contention: A Decade of Crisis" 13-15 May 2020
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Aspiring to shed light on the Greek experience in the era of crisis in a comparative, inter-disciplinary perspective, the Laboratory on Contentious Politics (Department of Political Science and History, Panteion University, Athens), the Centre on Social Movement Studies (Scuola Normale Superiore, Florence) and the Hellenic Political Science Association are organizing an international conference to be held at Panteion University, on 13, 14 and 15 May 2020.

12/12/2019

Prof. Donatella Della Porta to Be Awarded Honorary PhD
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On Friday 13, 2019, the University of the Peloponnese (PSIR) will award an honorary doctorate to Professor Donatella Della Porta, Dean of the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences at the Scuola Normale Superiore.

22/07/2019

Protest for a future: international report on #FridaysForFuture and the climate strike
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Composition, mobilization and motives of the participants in Fridays For Future climate protests on 15 March 2019, in 13 European cities. A multi-country collaboration report, with contributions from COSMOS researchers Lorenzo Zamponi, Donatella della Porta, Martín Portos, Niccolò Bertuzzi and Daniela Chironi.

21/06/2019

Call for papers: "The Nation and the Radical Left - Practices and Discourses of National Identity in Left-Wing Politics"
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The call for papers is now open for a conference on national identities and left-wing politics.

18/06/2019

Call for papers: “Class without consciousness” – The Politics of Fragmented Class Identities
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The call for papers is now open for a two-day conference on class and identities at the Scuola Normale Superiore on 14-15 November 2019

05/03/2019

A dialogue on labour, trade unions and conflicts
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On the 22nd of March, from 4pm to 7pm, Donatella della Porta (Scuola Normale Superiore) and Maurizio Landini (Secretary General of CGIL) will discuss about labour, trade unions and conflicts.

Publications

Journal Article - 2020

Don’t Call it Climate Populism: On Greta Thunberg’s Technocratic Ecocentrism
Mattia Zulianello and Diego Ceccobelli
The growing popularity of Greta Thunberg has led an increasing number of pundits and scholars to consider her message to be an instance of ‘climate’ or ‘environmental’ populism. This paper challenges this view, and argues that her message is far from being a case of populism.

Journal Article - 2020

Populism between voting and non-electoral participation
Andrea Pirro & Martín Portos
The article focuses on a neglected aspect of populist mobilisation, i.e. non-electoral participation (NEP), and elaborates on the extent to which populist party voters engage politically outside the polling station. While challenging common understandings of populism as inherently distrustful and apathetic, and protest as an exclusive practice of the left, the study critically places NEP at the heart of populism in general, and populist right politics in particular.

Journal Article - 2020

Reverting trajectories? UKIP’s organisational and discursive change after the Brexit referendum
Ofra Klein & Andrea Pirro
While showing UKIP’s projection into a new phase of its political lifecycle, the findings qualify the notion that the party has radicalised its (online) discourse as a result of (offline) organisational changes.

Special Issue - 2020

The Cultural Side of Populism: Politics, Emotions, Music and Subcultures in Populist Times
Manuela Caiani & Enrico Padoan
This special issue aims to combine an analytical perspective with an empirical focus on current populism(s) in Europe and their cultural aspects.

Journal Article - 2020

Filling the Gaps in Populism Studies
Manuela Caiani & Enrico Padoan
This article introduces the conceptual and analytical framework for the special issue, which explores the cultural side of populism: the relationships between politics, emotions, music, and subcultures in populist contexts.

Journal Article - 2019

Tokens or Stakeholders in Global Migration Governance? The Role of Affected Communities and Civil Society in the Global Compacts on Migration and Refugees
Stefan Rother and Elias Steinhilper

Journal Article - 2019

Alliance building and eventful protests: comparing Spanish and Portuguese trajectories under the Great Recession
Martín Portos & Tiago Carvalho
Social movement research has shed light on the relationship between processes of alliance building and multiple factors related to political opportunities, framing, identities, networks and resource mobilization. However, less is known about the impact of eventful protests on coalition building dynamics.

Monograph - 2019

Social Mobilization beyond Ethnicity. Civic Activism and Grassroots Movements in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Chiara Milan
This book offers an in-depth investigation of the emergence and spread of social mobilizations that transcend ethnicity in societies violently divided along ethno-national lines. Using Bosnia Herzegovina as a case study, the book explores episodes of mobilization which have superseded ethno-nationalist cleavages.

Journal Article - 2019

Close ever, distant never? Integrating protest event and social network approaches into the transformation of the Hungarian far right
Andrea Pirro, Elena Pavan, Adam Fagan & David Gazsi
In this article, we extend our understanding of fringe politics to include relational and thematic elements, namely, the relationship of far-right collective actors with their broader network and the claims made within it. By focusing on often neglected relational and thematic aspects, the study provides new ways to analyse fringe collective actors, the relationship with their environment and the evolution of such a relationship over time.

Journal Article - 2019

From the Rainy Place to the Burnt Palace: How Social Movements Form their Political Strategies. The Case of the Six Federations of the Tropic of Cochabamba
Leonidas Oikonomakis
Exploring the case of the cocaleros of the Chapare, this article argues that more emphasis should be placed on mechanisms that are internal to the movements, such as: (a) the resonance of other political experiences at home and abroad, (b) internal struggles for ideological hegemony, and (c) the political formation of their grassroots.
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Department of Political and Social Sciences Scuola Normale Superiore Palazzo Strozzi Piazza degli Strozzi 50123 Firenze Italy
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