Abstract

What are the consequences of European integration on social movements? Who are the “winners” and the “losers” of Europe’s organized civil society? This book explores the Europeanization of contention through an in-depth, comparative analysis of French and German pro-asylum movements since the end of the 1990s. Through an examination of their networks, discourses, and collective actions, it shows that the groups composing these movements display different degrees and forms of Europeanization, reflected in different fields of protest. More generally, it shows the multiple strategies implemented by activists to Europeanize their scope of mobilization and by doing so participate in the construction of a European public sphere.

“The wealth of in-depth semi-structured interviews and documents constitute the rich empirical basis upon which the book’s convincing conclusions rest… Overall, this book will be of great interest to anyone working in the field of Europeanization of social movements and Europeanization processes in general. It will also be of great benefit to scholars interested in asylum policies in Europe.” • H-France Review

“Conceptually strong, methodologically plausible, well engaged with the literature, very well written, and with conclusions limited to the evidence.” • Justin Greenwood, Robert Gordon University

“This book addresses a timely and under-researched topic…The empirical parts of the book present a large body of new information on social movement organizations in the two countries in a detailed and convincing manner.” • Barbara Laubenthal, University of Konstanz

Pierre Monforte is Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Leicester. He received his PhD from the European University Institute in Florence (Italy) and was a post-doctoral fellow at the Université de Montréal. His research explores the dynamics of protest for migrants’ rights in France, Germany, Canada and the UK.