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In person icon The Circulation of Narratives in Radical Political Contestation: National Campaigns and EU-Related Mobilisation

Europe (Central and Eastern)
Civil Society
Comparative Politics
Contentious Politics
European Union
Referendums and Initiatives
Campaign
P397
Luis Bouza
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) - The Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM)
Tatjana Sekulic
Università degli Studi di Milano – Bicocca

In person icon Building: Faculty of Law, Floor: 3, Room: FL319

Saturday 09:00 - 10:40 CEST (10/09/2016)

Abstract

The European Citizens’ Initiative (ECIs) is designed for public sphere campaigning, with direct democracy activists estimating a conversation rate of at least 5 conversations for every signature obtained in similar instruments, odds lengthened by personal data requirements for signature validation in the ECI. The panel invites papers which focus on the 10 cases in which ECIs achieved at least 100,000 signatures over the full 12 month campaign registration duration, seeking to examine in particular the features of national campaigns in which pro-rata country quotas were achieved. Many of these ‘success stories’ involved Central and East European countries (CEECs), and initiatives in which the threshold of signatures obtained was driven by a strong degree of contention with the policy drift of the European Commission. Whilst ECIs required the establishment of Citizens Committees comprised of 7 citizens, campaigns which resulted in a large number of signatures depended upon the activism of national campaign teams in many more member states, and about which very little is known. Analysis of these national campaigns carry potential to learn about the role of organisations and mechanisms ‘bridging’ territorial levels of contention and the circulation of narratives, particularly in countries with shorter traditions of civil rights in which trade unions have dominated the landscape of civil society organisations. The ECI apparatus, and the legacy of recent campaigns, provide a unique opportunity to capture analysis involving the circulation of narratives between different territorial levels.

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