Europäische Solidarität in Zeiten der Krise: ein Vergleich der transnationalen Aktivitäten zivilgesellschaftlicher Organisationen in Deutschland und Griechenland

Abstract

Civil society organisations have been engaged in solidarity practices in various issue areas, both within their countries and beyond. This paper is interested in analysing whether and to what extent civic initiatives and organisations are involved in transnational solidarity activities within Europe. Moreover, it wishes to identify those factors that seem to promote or inhibit the scope of transnational European activities. The paper compares the situation in two countries (Greece and Germany) on the basis of data on transnationally-oriented civic groups and organisations committed to organising solidarity activities in three fields of work (disabilities, unemployment and immigration of refugees). The analyses show that most solidarity organisations remain active primarily at the local and/or national level/s, and that only a minority of solidarity organisations are engaged in cross-national activities. European activities are associated with organisations maintaining a web of transnational partners and a more politicised mission. Moreover, formalisation and professionalisation seem to be conducive to transnational activism, as much as to global activism. These findings show that cross-national activism can develop at the grassroots level on the basis of a transnational organisational field that is not nec-C. Lahusen () •

Waves of transnational solidarity organisations in times of crises: actions, obstacles and opportunities in Europe

“…Based on our examination, we find ( Figure 3.1) that overall NGOs are the most frequent actor, as seen in almost half (46.3%) of all TSOs. This is a non-surprising finding as similar studies have shown that European civil society is dominated by formal humanitarian organisations such as NGOs (Warleigh, 2001;Lahusen et al, 2018). Other expected significant solidarity providers are the Church and charities as well as social economy enterprises and unions (18.4% and 17.0%, respectively).…”

“…Thus, previous research has shown that centralised and formally structured organisations mobilise resources and achieve goals more effectively than decentralised and informal groups (Jenkins, 1983;Edwards and McCarthy, 2004). Based on this approach, as similar studies have shown (Lahusen et al, 2018;Loukakis and Maggini, 2018) we can expect that European solidarity is strongly affected by the structure and resources of the organisations we have coded, regardless of their field of activity. Therefore, our first hypothesis is as follows:…”

“…Ruzza and Bozzini, 2008) indicate that EU-level associations and networks play a role in the coordination of transnational protest activities. Similarly, in the solidarity mobilisations field, Lahusen et al (2018) point out that the existence of transnational partners foster the Europeanisation of solidarity. This can be summed up in our second hypothesis: H2: TSOs that mention EU or its agencies as partners are more likely to engage in European-level activities than those that do not mention EU-related partners.…”

The welfare dimension: understanding trans(national) solidarity in Europe

“…However, as discussed in this book (e.g. Chapter 8), we have found evidence of horizontal transnationalisation (Lahusen et al, 2018) among the more grass roots-based and informal models of collective action and civil society. Civil society-led transnational solidarity comes at a time when reactionary parties and xenophobic movements are on the rise in Europe and beyond, and therefore our findings act as a signal that efforts to construct a truly transnational civil society may be more necessary than they have been before.…”

Applied solidarity in times of crisis: exploring the contexts of civil society activities in Greece and Germany

“…Research findings on the scope of activities suggest that despite tensions between the international and the local scopes of action, the everyday practices of cooperation remain tied to the local level (Anheier and Themudo 2002;von Bülow 2010;Baglioni and Giugni 2014). Even the organizations engaged in transnational solidarity remain primarily active at the local or national level (Lahusen et al 2018). Moreover, the dichotomy between 'professionalized' and 'spontaneous' organizations does not only generate competition for resources but also cooperation between large and small organizations (Kriesi 2007).…”