Abstract

Pandemic times have seen the mobilization of waves of protests of very different types. On the one hand, disruptive protests have mobilized coalitions of radical right, esoteric anti-vaccine, anti-EU and ultra conservative Christian groups that have targeted the measures taken to mitigate contagion up to the very denial of the pandemic. In these groups, populist visions have fueled conspirative beliefs already spread in regressive politics. On the other hand, progressive social movements have mobilized in defense of social rights and participatory democracy. In different forms--including innovative repertoires of protest in the streets but also initiatives practicing mutual help and the development of alternative knowledge--progressive social movements have claimed and produced solidarity, by bridging claims on social and environmental justice within a broad call for health rights. Building upon ongoing research on social movements during the pandemic, the keynote will address the broader question of the opportunities and challenges the pandemic brings about for social cohesion.

Dr. Donatella Della Porta is Professor of Political Science, Dean of the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences, and Director of the PhD Program in Political Science and Sociology at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Florence. There she also directs the Center for Studies on Social Movements (Cosmos). Her research focuses on social movements, political violence, terrorism, corruption, police, and surveillance of large-scale demonstrations. The political scientist is a WZB Fellow at the Center for Civil Society Research at the Social Science Research Center Berlin.

Ausgewählte Publikationen:

Della Porta, D., & Steinhilper, E. (Eds.). (2022). Contentious migrant solidarity: Shrinking spaces and civil society contestation. New York, NY: Routledge.

Della Porta, D., & Mattoni, A. (2021). Civil society against corruption. In A. Bågenholm, M. Bauhr, M. Grimes, & B. Rothstein (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of the quality of government (pp. 290-308). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Della Porta, D. (2020). Building bridges: Social movements and civil society in times of crisis. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 31(5), 938-948.

Della Porta, D. (2020). Protests as critical junctures: Some reflections towards a momentous approach to social movements. Social Movement Studies, 19(5-6), 556-575.

Della Porta, D. (2020). How social movements can save democracy: Democratic innovations from below. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.

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