Social movements and Europeanization

Abstract:
Are social movement organisations euro-sceptical, euro-pragmatic, or euro-opportunist? Or do they accept the EU as a new level of governance to place pressure on? Do they provide a critical capital, necessary for the political structuring of the EU, or do they disrupt the process of EU integration?

This book includes surveys of activists at international protest events targeting the European Union (for a total of about 5000 interviews); a discourse analysis of documents and transcripts of debates on European politics and policies conducted during the four European social forums held between 2002 and 2006 and involving hundreds of social movement organisations and tens of thousands of activists from all European countries; about 320 interviews with representatives of civil society organizations in six EU countries (France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Spain, and Italy) and one non-member state (Switzerland), and a systematic claims analysis of the daily press in selected years between 1990 and 2003.

The empirical research shows the different paths of Europeanisation taken by social movements and civil society organisations.

This book will be of interest to scholars and students of political science, especially those interested in European studies, comparative politics, and sociology.

Contents:
1: Social Movements and Europeanization: An Introduction
2: Europeanization and the Domestication of Protest
3: The Search for EU Alliances: An Externalization of Protest?
4: The Emergence of European Movements?
5: Euro-sceptics or Critical Europeanists? Some Conclusions