Martín Portos | Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (original) (raw)

Papers by Martín Portos

Government and Opposition, 2023

Political participation and party attachment in Western democracies have become more and more vol... more Political participation and party attachment in Western democracies have become more and more volatile. In turn, political campaigns seem increasingly dependent on shortterm discursive windows of opportunity opened by dynamic debates on issues such as migration, climate, employment and economic policies. Based on panel data from nine European countries, we investigate how patterns and changes in the materialist and postmaterialist concerns of respondents affect electoral turnout and party switching. By relating these variables, we aim to uncover whether and to what extent underlying concernsand thus short-term politicizationaccount for short-term patterns of electoral volatility. We pay special attention to young respondents, who are often framed as being particularly dynamic and less bound to traditional political loyalties. Our findings offer insights into short-term change in discursive opportunities for political mobilization and broader democratic engagement.

Sociology, 2022

Engaging with research on protest participation and gender inequalities, we examine how gender dy... more Engaging with research on protest participation and gender inequalities, we examine how gender dynamics play a crucial role in shaping patterns of protest participation across the rural/urban divide. We argue that moving from a rural toward an urban setting leads to an increase in protest participation for women, but not for men. Using an original two-wave panel survey dataset collected for the same individuals between 2018 and 2019 and covering nine European countries, we are able to go beyond traditional correlation analyses and measure our key variables over time, thus developing a dynamic approach that links differences in gender, socio-geographical positioning and protest participation. Our findings demonstrate that the rural/urban divide as a driver of protest participation affects women and men differently, because it might be shaped by different experiences of political socialization, socioeconomic status and structures of domination and discrimination, leading to different opportunities and incentives for mobilization.

Italian Political Science Review / Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica, 2021

In 2018, Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg began a school strike that quickly spread across the glo... more In 2018, Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg began a school strike that quickly spread across the globe. After a ritual strike every Friday by school pupils to call for urgent action against climate change had gone on for several months, what had become Fridays for Future (FFF) called for various global days of action throughout 2019, bringing millions of people out onto the streets in the largest climate protests in world history. Drawing on unique protest survey data on FFF events across European cities in 2019, this article explores the structural bases of organized collective mobilization for climate justice. Nuancing narratives that focus on either the privileged background of climate justice protesters or the environmentalism of the poor, our results show the heterogeneity of the social composition of the protests, suggesting the need for cross-class alliances for mass mobilizations. Moreover, our analysis reveals that the social background of protesters shaped their attitudes regarding what institutions and approaches can be relied upon to tackle climate and environmental challenges. This suggests an important and under-studied connection between social background and the strategic choices of environmental movements.

Dissent spread across the world in 2011. Many people protested against the political and socioeco... more Dissent spread across the world in 2011. Many people protested against the political and socioeconomic status quo. Outraged crowds took to the streets and occupied the squares in different parts of the globe. The Occupy movements in the United States, the Israeli rallies for social justice, the Arab Spring campaigns and the student revolts in Chile are just some examples. Countries in Southern Europe were no exception to this. Challengers reacted against austerity measures that governments advanced in response to the Great Recession.

Between Democracy and Law, 2019

Understanding what explains the irregular distribution and clustering of protest participants acr... more Understanding what explains the irregular distribution and clustering of protest participants across time—i.e. the varying size of protest events—is one of the core tasks that social movements scholars face (Biggs 2016). This chapter aims at analysing the trajectory of anti-austerity protests in Spain in the shadow of the Great Recession, 2007–2015.

Certain attitudinal configurations are meant to make individuals more prone to protest. For examp... more Certain attitudinal configurations are meant to make individuals more prone to protest. For example, those who report left-wing values, who are politically interested, more informed about politics and have high levels of self-perceived efficacy might be more likely to engage in protest actions.

Revista Internacional De Sociologia, 2019

This chapter examines the framing strategies in referendums from below in Scotland and Catalonia.... more This chapter examines the framing strategies in referendums from below in Scotland and Catalonia. It considers how the current context of economic austerity, along with the crisis of political legitimacy, have paved the way for the emergence of social justice and democratic-emancipatory frames with higher potential for resonance across audiences (and, therefore, for mobilisation) — to the detriment of other types of frames: the national-identity frame, the socioeconomic frame and the political frame. It shows that the Catalan and Scottish social movements have strategically avoided the traditional nationalist frame in order to expand the movement and avoid being assimilated with other national European movements. It also highlights how the campaigns for self-determination in Catalonia and Scotland shifted their frames towards broader political, economic and social issues to legitimise their discourses, relating their arguments to the national-identity, socioeconomic and political frames.

Supplemental material, abs7-online-appendix for Another Brick in the Wall? Young people, Protest ... more Supplemental material, abs7-online-appendix for Another Brick in the Wall? Young people, Protest and Nonprotest Claims Making in Nine European Countries by Angelos Loukakis and Martin Portos in American Behavioral Scientist

Amid high expectations on the side of supporters for independence, the 130th President of Catalon... more Amid high expectations on the side of supporters for independence, the 130th President of Catalonia Carles Puigdemont stepped in front of the Catalan parliament on October 10, 2017. Thousands of people in the street followed the Catalan president's speech. When Puigdemont declared independence, waves of joy hit the streets. Less than a minute later, however, he proposed to suspend the immediate effects of independence, essentially nullifying his previous declaration. In the streets, tears of joy turned into tears of disbelief, sadness and anger. Although the Catalan parliament did pass the bill on the unilateral declaration of independence on October 27, it did so in response to the Spanish government proceeding with article 155 of the Spanish Constitution, suspending

The so-called Coleman’s boat illustrates the logic of explanation from a mechanisms-based standpo... more The so-called Coleman’s boat illustrates the logic of explanation from a mechanisms-based standpoint. According to Hedstrom and Ylikoski (2010: 59), research should try to open up “the black box to find the causal mechanisms that have generated the macro-level observation”. In other words, mechanisms that interrelate macro-properties to achieve satisfactory explanations need to be spelled out.

Donatella della Porta (Catania, 1956) es una de las academicas mas prolificas y reconocidas en el... more Donatella della Porta (Catania, 1956) es una de las academicas mas prolificas y reconocidas en el ambito de las ciencias sociales en la actualidad. Con mas de un centenar de contribuciones academicas en las dos ultimas decadas, es una autoridad internacional en el estudio de los movimientos sociales y la contienda politica. Es catedratica en la Scuola Normale Superiore e investigadora del Robert Schuman Center of Advanced Studies en el Instituto Universitario Europeo de Florencia, donde preside el Consortium of Social Movement Studies (COSMOS). Entre sus publicaciones cientificas mas recientes en formato libro destacan Social Movements in Times of Austerity: Bringing Capitalism back into Protest Analysis (Polity Press, 2015), Spreading Protest. Social Movements in times of crisis (co-editado con Alice Mattoni; ECPR Press, 2014), Methodological Practices in Social Movement Research (editora, Oxford University Press, 2014), Mobilizing for Democracy. Comparing 1989 and 2011 (Oxford Uni...

This book examines how social movements exploited windows of opportunity offered by institutions ... more This book examines how social movements exploited windows of opportunity offered by institutions of direct democracy, in particular through referendums ‘from below’, and the ways in which the socioeconomic and political crisis of neoliberalism affected the referendums' dynamics and results. It considers events that have been either promoted or appropriated by social movements, such as the referendums in Scotland, Italy, Iceland, and Greece, and the consultation on independence in Catalonia. It also discusses the transformative impact of participation from below on the organisational strategies as well as the framing of the referendum campaigns. This chapter provides an overview of normative conceptions of democracy, social movements, and referendums; how referendums presented opportunities for movements; contentious referendum campaigns; issues surrounding the framing of referendum campaigns; and two cases of consultations that involved social movements in Scotland and Catalonia.

This chapter examines the context in which the Catalan and Scottish campaigns for independence de... more This chapter examines the context in which the Catalan and Scottish campaigns for independence developed. It explains how the referendum campaigns were initiated and by whom, arguing that both cases unfolded as the result of a concatenation of three coexisting crises: territorial, democratic and socioeconomic. First, Catalonia and Scotland suffered from a long-term crisis of territorial consolidation. Second, the Great Recession has brought about austerity policies, tightened government budgets, cuts in public spending, and dramatic increases in unemployment, inequality and poverty, while working conditions have worsened. Third, a crisis of democratic legitimacy has developed hand in hand with the socioeconomic turmoil. These three dimensions have resulted in two parallel mobilisation campaigns due to two key mechanisms: grievance formation and appropriation of opportunities. The chapter shows how electoral de-alignment and availability of allies facilitated the transformation of latent potential into concrete actions in the Catalan and Scottish referendums from below.

Government and Opposition, 2023

Sociology, 2022

Italian Political Science Review / Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica, 2021

Between Democracy and Law, 2019

Revista Internacional De Sociologia, 2019

Solidarity Mobilizations in the ‘Refugee Crisis’, 2018

From a comparative vantage point, few refugees arrived in Spain during the long summer of migrati... more From a comparative vantage point, few refugees arrived in Spain during the long summer of migration. Although a strong pro-refugee movement developed, it had an important internal variability. We study varying local-level political opportunities, comparing municipalities governed by movement-connected parties with others run by more traditional forces. We analysed the exceptional situation of Barcelona, where there is not only more popular mobilisation, but activism is also more protest-oriented than in other places. In contrast, Ceuta and Melilla are highly securitised cases with very closed opportunities for mobilisation. In between, we found mixed results for Andalusia and Galicia: although the presence of allies in office opens discursive opportunities for movement actors, it does not necessarily translate into de facto policies and stronger local networks of grassroots activism.

Solidarity Mobilizations in the ‘Refugee Crisis’, 2018

In this chapter we explored the transnational dimension of the mobilisations of solidarity with r... more In this chapter we explored the transnational dimension of the mobilisations of solidarity with refugees in Europe. Although some initiatives have a transnational aspiration, co-ordination of collective action and networks across borders is still unfolding. We focused on two poles in tension, Brussels and Calais, and scale shift dynamics. On the one hand, the Belgian capital is a central node for transnational collective action on—and the presence of institutional actors dealing with—refugees. Whereas large organisations rarely play a bridging role between grassroots initiatives and European stakeholders, some grassroots actors have nevertheless managed to achieve some access on their own. On the other hand, Calais’ local issue transcended domestic boundaries thanks to international flows of activists, opening up new avenues for further transnational co-ordination.

International Political Science Review, 2021

Anti-corruption claims have been at the core of many mass mobilizations worldwide. However, the n... more Anti-corruption claims have been at the core of many mass mobilizations worldwide. However, the nexus between corruption and collective action is often overlooked. Bridging social movement and corruption studies, this article contends that believing in extensive corruption has a positive impact on non-electoral forms of participation. But this effect is uneven across the population and contingent upon the individual's political interest and education. Using survey data from 34 countries, the analysis confirms that people prefer non-electoral mobilization when institutions are seemingly captured by vested interests. Moreover, perceiving endemic corruption is likely to breed indignation among lesser-educated and less politically interested citizens, who are keener to embrace anti-elitist arguments and ultimately engage in extra-institutional behaviour. These findings help refine theories of societal accountability, which generally assume that politically sophisticated citizens are the driving force in the fight against corruption.

Empiria. Revista De metodología De Ciencias Sociales, 2021

Durante el largo verano migratorio de 2015 aumentaba de un modo dramático el nivel de conciencia ... more Durante el largo verano migratorio de 2015 aumentaba de un modo dramático el nivel de conciencia ciudadana y activismo en Barcelona. En la primavera de 2016, cada día tenían lugar eventos de protesta en solidaridad con las personas refugiadas , promovidos por un amplio espectro de grupos locales, asociaciones y redes. En tanto, un cambio en el gobierno local erigía a una otrora activista social como alcaldesa, asumiendo el tema de las personas refugiadas como una prioridad política. Basado en una serie de entrevistas en profundidad con activistas clave, este artículo presenta, mapea y estudia la evolución de las redes activistas locales. Buscando arrojar luz sobre las dinámicas de meso-movilización, analizamos la plataforma Stop Mare Mortum (SMM). Con un alto nivel de politización y centrándose en las personas refugiadas en tránsito, esta iniciativa nacida de una pequeña red de círculos activistas creció hasta convertirse en una plataforma paraguas con gran capacidad para coordinar iniciativas de la sociedad civil. Junto con una combinación única de emociones y marcos de movilización, la habilidad de SMM para adaptar sus estrategias, repertorios de acción y estructuras organizativas a un contexto cambiante explican su capacidad de movilización y el carácter transversal de sus bases.

Revista Internacional de Sociología, 2019

This article seeks to understand the trajectory of radicalization in the Catalan 'procés'. Regard... more This article seeks to understand the trajectory of radicalization in the Catalan 'procés'. Regardless of their formal legal standing, referendum campaigns are distinct political opportunities which also generate further opportunities. Contrary to what some theories of protest would predict, when political opportunities are closed down at national level, and repression toughens, violent escalation leading to fragmentation and ultimately demobilization does not necessarily ensue, at least in the short term. As the Catalan 'procés' illustrates between the mid-2000s and late-2018, the combination of mechanisms such as appropriation of opportunities, downward scale shift and movement convergence can mitigate escalation processes. A dense network of local and grassroots assemblies displaced the previously dominant, major civil society organizations that led mass protests, especially during the 2012-2015 'diadas'. These grassroots actors prioritized the organization of dissent through more direct, more disruptive, but mostly peaceful forms of action. This in turn facilitated movement convergence, based upon solidarization, as it opened up local spaces where the activists from across the spectrum could mobilize together, preempting a clear violent escalation and the emergence of violent splinter groups till late 2018. Keywords Policing of protest; Secessionism; Referendums; Downward scale shift; Movement convergence. Resumen En este artículo desarrollamos un marco interpretativo para comprender la trayectoria de radicalización en el "procés" ca-talán. Independientemente del estatus legal del referéndum en cuestión, las campañas de referéndum son capaces de crear, y de hecho son en sí mismas, oportunidades políticas. En contraste con las predicciones desde las teorías de los ciclos de protesta, cuando se cierran las oportunidades a ni-vel nacional y la represión se intensifica, no necesariamente se desarrolla un proceso de radicalización que contribuye al declive del ciclo, al menos a corto plazo. Como el caso catalán ilustra entre mediados de los años 2000 y finales de 2018, varios mecanismos pueden mediar este proceso, incluyendo la apropiación de oportunidades políticas, el cambio de escala hacia abajo y la convergencia del movimiento. Una densa red de asambleas locales de base reemplaza en el a las gran-des organizaciones de la sociedad civil que hasta entonces, y especialmente durante las diadas entre 2012 y 2015, ha-bían liderado la movilización social. Aunque estas asambleas ciudadanas han abrazado repertorios de acción más direc-tos y disruptivos, estos han sido mayoritariamente pacíficos. Asimismo, este reemplazo ha favorecido la convergencia del movimiento, abriendo espacios donde activistas de un amplio espectro pueden movilizarse conjuntamente, y evitando de este modo una escalada violenta y la emergencia de grupos escindidos violentos (al menos hasta finales de 2018).