[ecrea] Political Protest and Social Movements - the annual meeting of the Dutch/Flemish Political Science Associations - Leiden University

*CALL FOR PAPERS: POLITICAL PROTEST AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS*
Convenors
Ali Honari (VU Amsterdam); Pauline Ketelaars (University of Antwerp); 
Jasper Muis (VU Amsterdam)

Contact person and email
Jasper Muis ((j.c.muis /at/ vu.nl) <mailto:(j.c.muis /at/ vu.nl)>)

Short abstract
Any papers on protest behaviour and social movements are welcome. 
Contributions can be theoretical or empirical, and based on qualitative 
or quantitative research. We especially look forward to papers about 
‘democracy protests’, activism of the populist radical right, and 
contributions that bridge the fields of political science, 
communication, and sociology.

Long abstract
This session aims to provide a more prominent place for the study of 
protest behaviour and social movements within Dutch and Flemish 
political science. Much of political science focuses on 
institutionalized politics, such as legislation, institutions, political 
parties, and established interest groups. Accordingly, the main American 
political science journals rarely contain work on social movements. Most 
of what Van Deth (2014) calls “Political Participation-II” is largely 
left to sociology and communication science. However, “when it comes to 
understanding the major waves of democratization, the rise of new 
political values and issues, as well as the current threats to 
democracy, there are hardly any political actors that are more relevant 
to study than social movements” (Koopmans 2007: 704-705).
Any papers on protest behaviour and social movements are welcome in this 
panel. Contributions can be theoretical or empirical, and they can be 
based on qualitative or quantitative research, or both. We especially 
look forward to papers that advance our understanding in the following 
three contemporary issues in the field of ‘contentious politics’. First, 
we are interested in so-called ‘democracy protests’ and the role of 
social movement actors in political change and the process of 
democratization. Take for instance the Euromaidan protests in Ukraine 
(2014), ‘Umbrella Protests’ in Hong Kong (2014) or the ‘Twitter 
Revolution’ and Green Movement in Iran (2009) (Brancati 2016; Honari 
2013). Second, we especially welcome papers on what Caiani (2012:4) 
calls the ‘bad side’ of social movement activism. Certain social 
movements arguably figure prominently among democracy’s current threats. 
In Western Europe, until 2015 the populist radical right was almost 
exclusively a party phenomenon and street politics was the domain of 
only marginal, sometimes violent, extreme right groups (Mudde 2017). In 
recent years, more influential and prominent extra-parliamentary groups 
have emerged, such as the English Defence League and PEGIDA. Third, we 
look forward to contributions that bridge the fields of political 
science, communication, and sociology. We are particularly interested in 
the role of social media in political contention and how the Internet 
gives rise to ‘unstructured’, ‘leaderless’ social movements – a model of 
activism that characterized for instance the Arab Spring uprisings in 
2011 (Bayat 2013).

Language papers
English

Language discussions
English
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