Resisting Austerity: Collective Action In Europe (and beyond) In The Wake Of The Global Financial Crisis

The global economic crisis along with the austerity measures implemented by governments during the crisis has led to a dramatic increase in unemployment, inequality and poverty in a number of European countries hardest hit by the crisis. Within this context, Anti-austerity protests have targeted national political and economic elites for failing to adequately address prior internal structural problems, and for failing to protect citizens against the effects of the crisis. They have protested the external imposition of budgetary austerity measures, and have targeted international financial institutions. They have, further, developed counter-narratives of the ‘crisis’ and the ‘need’ for austerity measures, and have created alternative responses based on resistance and solidarity, bringing basic material issues such as housing and food, as well as public health and education, to the centre of their claims making and the European public debate. Crucial in contexts such as Spain, these demands have been framed within a broader call for democratic regeneration. Yet this demand has taken many different forms from direct democratic grassroots participation, to participatory budgets in municipal administrations and the emergence of new “hybrid parties” such as Podemos, as well as pan European initiatives such as Plan B.

The PhD project will focus on collective resistance to austerity and the resulting democratic transformations that arise from these mobilizations. It will explore the ways that the concept of democracy is being rearticulated and the new political forms this is taking. It will analyze the ways in which the context of ‘austerity’ has altered the political and cultural landscape for social movements, as well as the ways movements have altered the political and electoral terrain in affected countries. The dynamics and challenges faced by pan-European and transnational anti-austerity initiatives such as Plan B may also be explored.

Applicants should have a background in sociology, politics or related discipline, should have a grounding in European politics and should be fluent in the language of the country/countries in which they wish to base their research