Theorizing Cultures of Political Violence in Times of Austerity

Abstract

Why did some protest movements turn to force when others did not in times of austerity? How has it influenced political structures of the Eurozone states? In this empirically rich, methodologically advanced, and theoretically innovative book, Joanna Rak open-mindedly addresses important research problems of the sources and consequences of differences and similarities across cultures of political violence formed by the post-2008 anti-austerity movements in Europe. Not only does Rak's study contribute to our understanding of what happened in austerity-driven societies, but it also makes an important contribution to the Social Sciences by creating and applying a compelling non-traditional research design that allows a researcher to verify methodological correctness and analytical effectiveness of theoretical frameworks. Those who are interested in how to analyze contentious politics now have an excellent work to read!' Roman Bäcker, The former President of Polish Political Science Association 'Joanna Rak has written an admirably clear, rigorously designed and conducted comparative study of European anti-austerity movements. This book does more than challenge the students of contention to think critically about conceptual and explanatory frameworks of cultures of political violence. By formulating and testing new analytical tools, the study pushes us to reconsider a traditional research process and the use of theoretical categories in comparative politics and social movement studies.' Adam Wielomski, The President of Political and Legal Theory Association 'This timely and innovative research allows us to understand how broad civil historical contexts shaped placid, hector-led, and militant cultures of political violence in austerity-driven Europe. Drawing upon the pieces of data in 14 languages and a comprehensive literature review, Joanna Rak creates entirely new databases for anti-austerity movements. In skillfully combining qualitative and quantitative comparative techniques, she achieves both theory-verification and theory-generation aims. The analysis makes significant methodological and theoretical advances as Rak devises a gradable theoretical category of a culture of political violence. Her original theoretical framework introduces a refreshingly new way to bring together accomplishments in the study of contentious politics and history. Rak paves the way for further research and discussion about a nature of contemporary cultures of political violence.'

Managing Emotions During Social Protests and the Political Subjectivity of the Protesters

“…Many researchers deal with contentious politics understood as the desire to change public policy through the use of disruptive techniques (Ayoub, 2010;Della Porta & Caiani, 2011;Della Porta & Tarrow, 2012;Rak, 2018). However, it is also worth dealing with the opposite relationship.…”

Protests in Lithuania in the Pandemic Era

“…In the negotiation model of conflict management, in turn, the police acknowledge the constitutional right to peaceful assembly and communicate with protesters through peaceful measures, at the same time avoiding coercion 71 . Having examined the ways the police manage conflicts, Joanna Rak came up with the third, hybrid model of protest policing, which combines the characteristics of the two previous models, differing from them only in its configuration 72 .…”

The Effects of Crises in the European Union as a Manifestation of the Militant Democracy Rule Implementation

“…The most serious crisis in the history of the European Union was the European debt crisis, it was then that there were imposed socially unpopular cuts which led to a significant rise in populist movements and anti-system public sentiment. The activity of these movements began to be seen by state authorities as a threat to liberal democratic systems 23 .…”