In this paper I will address the visible effects of the anti-austerity mobilisations of the last few years on the Italian social movement milieu, focusing in particular on two main aspects: the organisation of collective action (both within collective actors and in networks or coalitions of collectives) and the choice of forms of action from the repertoire of protest.
Since 2008, Italy has been severely hit by the economic crisis and by the austerity policies implemented as a response to the crisis. In the same period of time, Italy has seen a significant amount of protest events and mobilisations, even if their “scattered” nature, without the presence of a unified and encompassing anti-austerity movement makes the Italian case rather different from those of Spain, Greece and Portugal. What are the consequences of this particular configuration of anti-austerity protest on the organisation and on the repertoire of action of Italian social movements? How does the evolution of the cycle of protest impact on the following choices of the actors that take part in it? This paper aims to answer these questions through the analysis of qualitative and quantitative data on Italian social movements gathered in the context of the LIVEWHAT project.
