From the end of the Second World War to the late 1980s, the field of social movement research remained highly fragmented in Europe. During its incipient phase, research was strongly rooted in national traditions. It was only in the early 1990s that the scenario began to move towards one of progressive integration. As Diani and Císař stress in their study of the progressive construction of a European social movement community, in the early phase (1978-1990) parallel developments in a number of European states took place, with quite a few significant collaborations across national borders; in the intermediate phase (1991-2001), a core of European researchers in close collaboration with non-European (mostly, American based) social scientists emerged; during the most recent phase (2003-2012), a European community of social movement researchers consolidated but also differentiated along several lines of fragmentation. Social movement studies in Europe have now become an institutionalised ‘sub-discipline’ with sessions and standing groups in various scientific associations in different disciplinary areas, notably political science and sociology.

The evolution of this process is analyzed by the book Social Movements Studies in Europe. The State of the Art (Berghahn Books), organized by Olivier Fillieule and Guya Accornero. With the participation of some authors and counting on the commentaries of James Jasper as a discussant, this panel would like to offer the opportunity to debate this book and to stimulate the debate on the state of the art and the possible paths of European research on social movements.