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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.

Rethinking lay expertise: From AIDS activism to the era of Covid-19, Steven Epstein, Northwestern University

Date: 03/12/2020

Place: 16:00-18:00 CET, Online Talk. Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Scuola Normale Superiore.

Category: COSMOS Talk

Abstract:

 

Presentation of the third edition of Social Movements: An Introduction

Date: 25/11/2020

Place: 11-13:00 (CET). Online Talk. Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, Scuola Normale Superiore

Category: COSMOS Talk

Abstract:

 

Transnational LGBTI Movements in Europe: Rights and Backlash in the 21st Century, Philip Ayoub (Occidental College)

Date: 24/11/2020

Place: 17 - 19 (CET), Online Talk. Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, Scuola Normale Superiore.

Category: COSMOS Talk

Abstract:

 

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?

 

News

28/09/2020

Four post-doctoral research positions on the pandemic
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The Scuola Normale Superiore announces four post-doctoral positions to be activated as part of the research project “After the coronavirus pandemic: The effects of the health emergency on society and knowledge.” 

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

Publications

Journal Article - 2021

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.

Monograph - 2021

Migrant Protest. Interactive Dynamics in Precarious Mobilizations
Elias Steinhilper
This book explores the interactions and spaces shaping the emergence, trajectory, and fragmentation of migrant protest in unfavorable contexts of marginalization.

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

On corruption and state capture: The struggle of anti-corruption activism in Hungary
Andrea Pirro & Donatella della Porta
The article draws on social movement theory to understand collective action against corruption in Hungary. While offering a perspective on anti-corruption activism, the article demonstrates its limits against a set of unfavourable factors.

Monograph - 2020

Discursive Turns and Critical Junctures: Debating Citizenship after the Charlie Hebdo Attacks
Donatella della Porta, Pietro Castelli Gattinara, Konstantinos Eleftheriadis & Andrea Felicetti
The book offers an in-depth analysis of the unfolding of the public debate in terms of content of claims making, framing, and justifications as well as the quality (deliberativeness) of the discourses by a variety of actors in the public sphere.

Journal Article - 2020

Rethinking the digital democratic affordance and its impact on political representation: Toward a new framework
Marco Deseriis
This article advances a new theory of the digital democratic affordance, a concept first introduced by Lincoln Dahlberg to devise a taxonomy of the democratic capacities of digital media applications.

Monograph - 2020

Anti-Neoliberal Populisms in Comparative Perspective. A Latinamericanisation of Southern Europe?
Enrico Padoan
In this book, Enrico Padoan proposes an original middle-range theory to explain the emergence and the internal organisation of anti-neoliberal populist parties in Latin America and Southern Europe, and the relationships between these parties and the organised working class.

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.
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Faculty of Political and Social Sciences Scuola Normale Superiore Palazzo Strozzi Piazza degli Strozzi 50123 Firenze Italy
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