logo

Cosmos

The Centre on Social Movement Studies

logo

Publications

Type:
Author(s):
Title:
Year:
Picture description

Conspiracism and Political Conflict

Edited Volume - 2026

Author: Manuela Caiani, Marco Solinas, Hans-Jorg Trenz

This book explains how and why conspiracy theories have become such a powerful political weapon. From stolen-election claims to vaccine scepticism and global “elite” plots, conspiracy theories have moved from the political margins to the centre of public life. In an era of polarised politics, digital campaigning, and democratic backsliding, they increasingly shape elections, mobilise… more

The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social and Political Movements, 2nd Edition

Edited Volume - 2022

Author: David A. Snow, Donatella della Porta, Doug McAdam, Bert Klandermans (eds.)

Picture description

Contentious Migrant Solidarity. Shrinking Spaces and Civil Society Contestation

Edited Volume - 2021

Author: Donatella della Porta & Elias Steinhilper

In the context of both the financial crisis and the crisis of European migration politics, the notion of solidarity has gained renewed prominence and - as this book argues - its practice has become increasingly contentious. Intersecting crises have sharpened social and political polarization and have contracted simultaneously the space for migrant and minority rights… more
Picture description

Varieties of Populism in Europe in Times of Crises

Edited Volume - 2021

Author: Manuela Caiani & Paolo Graziano

The volume, composed of eight chapters, investigates how different populist parties in the European Union have been affected by the various crises, disentangling the role of the Great Recession vis-à-vis other factors (such as political and party system factors, but also structural social changes or cultural opportunities) in the growing strength of populist parties in… more
Picture description

Solidarity Mobilizations in the ‘Refugee Crisis’. Contentious Moves

Edited Volume - 2018

Author: Donatella della Porta (ed.)

This edited collection introduces conceptual innovations that critically engage with understanding refugee movements as part of the broader category of ‘poor people’s movements’. The empirical focus of the work lies on the protest events related to the so-called ‘long summer of migration’ of 2015. It traces the route followed by the migrants from the places… more

Global diffusion of protest. Riding the Protest Wave in the Neoliberal Crisis

Edited Volume - 2017

Author: Donatella Della Porta

What happens when a wave of protest, which starts in a homogeneous area, affects other countries in its long ebb? Or, at least, when results in other countries are seen as a sort of continuation of that initial spark? In 2013, protests developed all over the globe, being at least in part inspired by the… more

Participations 2016/2 (N° 15) - Special Issue "Participer aux États-Unis : les town meetings"

Edited Volume - 2016

Author: Paula Cossart, Andrea Felicetti, James Kloppenberg (guest editors)

Paula Cossart, Andrea Felicetti, James Kloppenberg Introduction. Les town meetings, mythe fondateur de la démocratie américaine Xavier Blandin Note de traduction Caroline W. Lee, Traduction Laurent Vannini Les 21st Century Town Meetings dans les années 1990 et 2000 : assemblées délibérantes et marchandisation de l’authenticité politique dans une époque d’austérité Michael Zuckerman, Traduction Xavier Blandin… more

The Consequences of Social Movements: Policies, People and Institutions

Edited Volume - 2016

Author: Lorenzo Bosi, Marco Giugni and Katrin Uba

Social movements have attracted much attention in recent years, both from scholars and among the wider public. This book examines the consequences of social movements, covering such issues as the impact of social movements on the life course of participants and the population in general, on political elites and markets, and on political parties and… more
Picture description

The Oxford Handbook of Social Movements

Edited Volume - 2016

Author: Donatella Della Porta and Mario Diani

The Oxford Handbook of Social Movements is an innovative volume that presents a comprehensive exploration of social movement studies, mapping the field and expanding it to examine the recent developments in cognate areas of studies, within and beyond sociology and political science. This volume brings together the most distinguished social and political scientists working in… more

Political Violence in Context. Time, Space and Milieu

Edited Volume - 2015

Author: Lorenzo Bosi, Niall O’Dochartaigh and Daniela Pisoiu

Context is crucial to understanding the causes of political violence and the form it takes. This book examines how time, space and supportive milieux decisively shape the pattern and pace of such violence. While much of the work in this field focuses on individual psychology or radical ideology, Bosi, Ó Dochartaigh, Pisoiu and others take… more

News

08/06/2026

Social movements in intense times. Notes for a (semiserious) auto-ethnography
alt

01/04/2026

Critical Political Economy of the European Polycrisis
alt

19/03/2026

Books Against Censorship: Libraries as Bastions of Freedom/Libri contro la censura, le Biblioteche come presidio di libertà
alt

17/03/2026

Travelling with the European Convoy for Cuba
alt

09/02/2026

Genova 2001 in historical perspective, a conference and a call for papers
alt

03/02/2026

Call for papers: Contentious Politics in Spain: Cycles, Transformations and New Repertoires of Contention
alt

Publications

Journal Article - 2025

Communication creates partial organization: A comparative analysis of the organizing practices of two climate action movements, Youth for Climate and Fridays for Future Italy
Marco Deseriis, Lorenzo Zamponi, Diego Ceccobelli
This article focuses on a neglected aspect of the climate action movement Fridays for Future, namely, the relationship between its mediated communication practices and its early organizational processes. Drawing from a strand of organizational communication that underscores the constitutive dimension of communication to organizing processes, we analyze the significance of mediatized leadership and networked communication for the foundation and early development of two national chapters of Fridays for Future: Youth for Climate (YFC) Belgium and Fridays for Future Italy (FFFI).

Journal Article - 2023

Resisting right-wing populism in power: a comparative analysis of the Facebook activities of social movements in Italy and the UK
Niccolò Pennucci
This paper aims to present a comparative study of the civil society reaction to right-wing populism in power through social media, by looking at cases in Italy and the United Kingdom.

Journal Article - 2023

Emotions in Action: the Role of Emotions in Refugee Solidarity Activism
Chiara Milan
This article investigates the different types of emotions that result from participation in refugee solidarity activism, investigating how they change over time and to what extent they explain why individuals remain involved in action in spite of unfavorable circumstances.

Journal Article - 2023

‘Love is over, this is going to be Turkey!’: cathartic resonance between the June 2013 protests in Turkey and Brazil
Batuhan Eren
This study addresses the question of why and how a protest can inspire individuals in distant countries. Taking the June 2013 protests in Turkey and Brazil as cases, it investigates the reasons why the Turkish protests were framed as one of the inspirational benchmarks by some Brazilian protesters.

Journal Article - 2023

Mutual aid and solidarity politics in times of emergency: direct social action and temporality in Italy during the COVID-19 pandemic
Lorenzo Zamponi
From the spring of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic and the social distancing measures introduced created a series of social problems and needs that were partially addressed in Italy as well as in other countries by grassroots mutual aid initiatives. While many of these initiatives were strongly rooted in the Italian social movement and civil society landscape and the choice to engage in mutual aid activities was the result of long years of reflection and planning, the article shows how strongly the temporality of emergency affected the nature of these initiatives, their development and their outcomes, in particular with regard to the extraordinary number of people who volunteered and their relationship with politicisation processes.

Monograph - 2023

Populism and (Pop) Music
Manuela Caiani, Enrico Padoan
The book provides a detailed account of the links between production of popular culture to the rise of populism and contributes to studies on populism and popular culture in Italy, using a comparative approach and a cultural sociology perspective

Monograph - 2022

Labour conflicts in the digital age
Donatella della Porta, Riccardo Emilio Chesta, Lorenzo Cini
From Deliveroo to Amazon, digital platforms have drastically transformed the way we work. But how are these transformations being received and challenged by workers? This book provides a radical interpretation of the changing nature of worker movements in the digital age, developing an invaluable approach that combines social movement studies and industrial relations. Using case studies taken from Europe and North America, it offers a comparative perspective on the mobilizing trajectories of different platform workers and their distinct organizational forms and action repertoires.

Monograph - 2022

Resisting the Backlash: Street Protest in Italy
Donatella della Porta, Niccolò Bertuzzi, Daniela Chironi, Chiara Milan, Martín Portos & Lorenzo Zamponi
Drawing interview material, together with extensive data from the authors’ original social movement database, this book examines the development of social movements in resistance to perceived political "regression" and a growing right-wing backlash.

Journal Article - 2021

Learning from Democratic Practices: New Perspectives in Institutional Design
Andrea Felicetti
Drawing from literature on democratic practices in social movements and democratic innovations, the article illustrates three ways to advance institutional design in the wake of the systemic turn.

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