DEMOCRATIC EROSION AND CONTEMPORARY POLITICAL MOBILIZATIONThis article analyzes the relations between contemporary social mobilizations and democratic crises. Presenting findings and arguments from research we have conducted over the past ten years, the text explores five dimensions of the democratic crisis (economic, political, social, epistemic, and environmental) and nine trends of contemporary mobilizations, namely: (1) Back to the future; (2) The centrality of performances; (3) Individual and customizable protagonism; (4) Hijacking the other’s action; (5) Disinformation as part of the repertoire of confrontation; (6) Chiaroscuro in social mobilization; (7) The temporal acceleration of protests and presentism; (8) The centrality of automated agencies; and (9) The importance of observing improvisations. We argue that mobilizations have had ambivalent consequences for democracy and that their forms and configurations dialogue with elements of the crises.
Keywords:
Democratic Erosion; Social Mobilization; Repertoires of Confrontation; Collective Action