Şebnem Yardımcı-Geyikçi explores what determines the prospects of contemporary protest movements, or lack thereof, to induce significant changes in electoral politics. Why have some protest movements been more effective in reshaping the electoral politics but not the others? With discussants Jan Willem Duyvendak (NIAS-KNAW) and Ingrid van Biezen (Leiden University).
About the programme
Şebnem Yardımcı-Geyikçi explores what determines the prospects of contemporary protest movements, or lack thereof, to induce significant change in electoral politics. Using Southern European cases to illustrate its claims, she explains the variation by focusing on the characteristics of the party systems.
The contemporary wave of protests and Occupy-style mobilizations has been very influential in many parts of the world, from the Mediterranean to Wall Street and from there to Europe. As many scholars have noted, the rise of these movements has driven by a common set of factors. These include increasing disaffection from mainstream politics, post-modernization, and globalization. However, although these movements were resulted from the similar concerns, the political structure they attempted to reshape differed immensely. Different studies have recently underlined the importance of interaction between protest movements and electoral politics, though little is known about the factors that influence this variable.
The contention is that in party systems characterized by centripetal political competition, low polarization, and low fragmention, the system allows for the formation of a new party by the social movement which then has higher potential to introduce movement politics into electoral politics. Conversely, in systems with centrifugal political competition, high polarization, and high fragmentation, social movements are more likely to lead to a party change at most, as already existing political forces absorb the demands of protests.
About the speakers
Şebnem Yardımcı-Geyikçi
Şebnem Yardımcı-Geyikçi is Assistant Professor of politics in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at Hacettepe University, Ankara. Yardımcı-Geyikçi’s current research concerns party politics, the questions of representation, protest movements, authoritarianism, and area studies. Currently, she is an Individual Fellow at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study (NIAS-KNAW).
Jan Willem Duyvendak
Jan Willem Duyvendak is director of the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study (NIAS-KNAW). Duyvendak studied sociology and philosophy at the University of Groningen and in Paris. His research interests include new social movements, the changing welfare state, and such themes as belonging and nativism.
Ingrid van Biezen
Ingrid van Biezen is Professor of Comparative Politics at Leiden University. Her current research concentrates primarily on the various empirical and normative dimensions of party regulation and its implications for modern party democracy.
Registration
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