Luisa Chiodi, Fazila Mat and Oliver Schmidtke, 'Seizing Transnational Opportunities in Times of Populism: The Transformation of Civil Society', in Chiara Milan, Aron Buzogany, (forthcoming), "Transnational political contention in the European union and beyond", Palgrave Macmillan
Abstract:Italy’s civil society organisations (CSOs) are a captivating case for studying the transformation of CSOs’ political activism in the face of the European Union’s (EU) complex multilevel polity, gradually favoring CSOs’ transnational mobilization. As its main contribution to the evolving political opportunities for civil society actors in Italy, this chapter sheds light on the opportunities and limitations offered by the European space in pursuing CSOs’ political ambitions in a political context in which the relationship with political parties has profoundly changed, and the populist wave has made Italy’s political landscape more adverse to civil society advocacy. We also take into account that in the same period of time, the EU political and legal space has seen a notable consolidation and opened a political and institutional space for the trajectory for and the achievements of the mobilisation of Italian CSOs. We explore the challenges and opportunities that CSOs face in contemporary Italian society drawing on 28 in-depth interviews with representatives of selected NGOs, activists and lawyers mainly engaged in the field of migrants’ and LGBT’s rights. In addition, we use documentary evidence from campaigns in the form of press releases, reports, media coverage, judicial decisions and academic sources. Empirically, we investigate a few cases of transnational civic initiatives that exploit the EU multi-level system and that include legal actions, legislative proposals, and monitoring work. With a view to their - controversial - status, the activism of these CSOs reflects the transformation of Italy’s politics and the constraints under which civil society groups operate, but also the opening of opportunities at the transnational level.
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