2017-05-04

Donatella Della Porta at the University of Westminster

On May 4, 2017 at 6 p.m., Prof. Donatella Della Porta will give a public lecture at the University of Westminster focusing on democratic practices in social movements

In this public lecture, leading scholar Professor Donatella della Porta explores democratic practices in social movements. Her extensive empirical and theoretical work investigates how social movements’ struggles for more democracy are paralleled by internal efforts to self-organise in democratic ways. By establishing deliberative and participatory practices inside social movement organizations, they challenge common conceptions of representative democracy. These processes of democratic internal decision-making and consensus-finding create new participatory spaces at the grass roots. Donatella della Porta’s work examines movements ranging from the Eastern European processes of democratization in 1989, the Global Justice movement, to the Arab Spring, the Indignados, and Occupy.

DATE AND TIME: Thu 4 May 2017, 18:00 – 20:00 BST

LOCATION: UG05, University of Westminster, 309 Regent Street, London W1B 2UW (United Kingdom) – View Map

Please, register via the link below:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/donatella-della-porta-democratic-practices-in-social-movements-tickets-33531294003?aff=ehomecard

News

06/10/2017

Open Democracy Post - "The streets will always be ours" - Catalonia, a referendum from below

Although some still conceive of the referendum as launched by a pro-independence vanguard, the elite story falls short of explaining the resilient participation of a large part of Catalan civil society. This post at Open Democracy addresses this issue from a different angle.

24/09/2017

New Publication Out - "Social movements and referendums from below. Direct democracy in the neoliberal crisis"

A timely publication to shed light on the link between social movements that formed as a consequence of the 2008 financial crash and the referendums' dynamic and results.

25/08/2017

Donatella Della Porta con Yanis Varoufakis alla 13esima conferenza ESA

Wednesday, August 30th (8pm-9.30pm) professor della Porta, who directs the Center on Social Movement Studies(Cosmos), will dialogue with Yanis Varoufakis, Greek Minister of Finance during the first Tsipras government, about the future of Europe and the social consequences of neoliberal economies

Publications

Monograph - 2018

Social Movements and Civil War : When Protests for Democratization Fail

Donatella della Porta, Teije Hidde Donker , Bogumila Hall , Emin Poljarevic

This book investigates the origins of civil wars which emerge from failed attempts at democratization. The main aim of this volume is to develop a theoretical explanation of the conditions under which and the mechanisms through which social movements' struggles for democracy ends up in civil war.

Monograph - 2017

Social movements and referendums from below. Direct democracy in the neoliberal crisis

Donatella Della Porta, Francis O'Connor, Martin Portos and Anna Subirats Ribas

Out now "Social movements and referendum from below", the first book that bridges the gap between social movement studies and research on direct democracy. It draws on social movement theory to understand the nature of popular mobilisation in referendums using unique case studies such as the referendum on independence in Scotland, the consultations on independence in Catalonia, the Italian referendum on water, the referendum on the Troika proposals in Greece and the referendum on the debt repayment in Iceland.

Cosmos

The Centre on Social Movement Studies