Democracy Reloaded

Inside Spain's Political Laboratory from 15-M to Podemos

Cristina Flesher Fominaya

Oxford Studies in Culture and Politics

Includes unique interviews with key participants in the 15-M movement and Podemos
Provides an insider view of the movement, what motivated the participants and how they built a strong movement
Offers an original argument that challenges some of the dominant interpretations of factors that lead to movement success
Brings to light the dynamics of autonomous "horizontal" movements

Democracy Reloaded

Inside Spain's Political Laboratory from 15-M to Podemos

Cristina Flesher Fominaya

Oxford Studies in Culture and Politics

Description

In Democracy Reloaded, Cristina Flesher Fominaya tells the story of one of the most influential social movements of recent times: Spain's "Indignados" or "15-M" movement that took to the streets of Spain on May 15, 2011 with the rallying cry "Real Democracy Now! We are not commodities in the hands of bankers and politicians!" Based on access to key participants in the 15-M movement and Podemos and extensive participant observation, Flesher Fominaya tells a provocative and original story of this remarkable movement, its emergence, evolution, and impact. In so doing, she argues that in times of global economic and democratic crisis, movements organized around autonomous network logics can build and sustain strong movements in the absence of formal organizations, strong professionalized leadership, and the ability to attract external resources. Further, she challenges explanations for success that rest on the mobilizing power of social media. Through in-depth analysis of the month long occupation of Madrid's Puerta del Sol, and subsequent 15-M mobilization, Democracy Reloaded shows how the experience of the protest camp revitalized pre-existing networks, forged bonds of solidarity, and gave birth to a new movement that went on to influence public debate and the political agenda, in Spain and beyond.

Democracy Reloaded

Inside Spain's Political Laboratory from 15-M to Podemos

Cristina Flesher Fominaya

Oxford Studies in Culture and Politics

Preface
List of Maps & Figures
List of Tables
List of Images
List of Abbreviations

Introduction

Part I: Spanish Democracy and 15-M
Chapter 1: Spanish Democracy and 15-M

Part II: 15-M: From Protest to Occupation
Chapter 2: Origin Stories
Chapter 3: 15-May 2011: An Unexpected Detonator
Chapter 4: Acampada Sol: The Chrysalis and the Crucible
Chapter 5: Assessing the Significance of Acampada Sol

Part III: From Occupation To Movement: Inside the 15-M Network
Chapter 6: "It's Not A Crisis, It's A Swindle": Indignant and Precarious Pensioners
Chapter 7: "The Citizens Did It": 15mparato, Autonomous Hacker Ethics in Action
Chapter 8: The Pah: Building a Movement within a Movement
Chapter 9: Indignant and Precarious Youth

Part IV: From 15-M to Podemos
Chapter 10: 15-M And Podemos: Explaining the Puzzle of the "Electoral Turn"
Chapter 11: Podemos: A Hybrid Party?

Conclusions
Chapter 12: 15-M Political Culture, Collective Identity, and the Logic of Autonomous Networks in the Digital Age
Chapter 13: Democracy Reloaded: Politics in Times of Crisis

Notes
References
Index

Democracy Reloaded

Inside Spain's Political Laboratory from 15-M to Podemos

Cristina Flesher Fominaya

Oxford Studies in Culture and Politics

Author Information

Cristina Flesher Fominaya is Professor of Global Studies at Aarhus University and an internationally recognized expert in European social movements and politics. She holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley. She is Editor in Chief of the journal Social Movement Studies, cofounder of open access Interface Journal, author of Social Movements in a Globalized World (2nd ed), and co-editor of the Routledge Handbook of Contemporary European Social Movements (2020). She has published widely on social movements, democracy, and Spanish and European politics in English and Spanish.

Democracy Reloaded

Inside Spain's Political Laboratory from 15-M to Podemos

Cristina Flesher Fominaya

Oxford Studies in Culture and Politics

Reviews and Awards

"There have been numerous scholarly books written about elements of Spain's contentious political trajectory since 2011, and many are admirable in their treatment of the Spanish case, but Cristina Flesher Fominaya's Democracy Reloaded offers perhaps the most comprehensive account yet....[it] is highly informative, eloquently written, and theoretically sophisticated. It is a vitalizing contribution to the study of social movements which consti¬tutes essential reading for scholars interested in contemporary European protest or political parties." -- Benjamin Abrams, Social Movement Studies

"What the book ultimately provides is a powerful antidote to the bleak and uncertain present, not by indulging in the nostalgic contemplation of days past, but by examining still unexplored political horizons and potentials." -- Vincente Rubio-Pueyo, Public Books

"It is an ambitious book, offering a continuous vision of the 15-M protests that integrates their context and precedents, as well as their crystallization into new political formations. The bottom line is to understand that protests do not have definitive limits in either their beginnings or their dissolutions; they contain moments of singularity." -- Josep Lobera, Autonomous University of Madrid, Mobilization: An International Quarterly

"Flesher Fominaya's study can be warmly welcomed as one written by an international authority on social movements and Spanish politics. Its combination of ethnographic fieldwork, first hand observation, critical analysis and deep theoretical understanding of the issues raised by these events marks it out as a landmark study. Indeed it is and will be the core resource for understanding 15M and this extraordinary political moment for many years to come." -Simon Tormey, University of Bristol

"Democracy Reloaded will quickly become, and for a long time should remain, the definitive work on the topic of the Spanish M-15 social movement, and the origins of Podemos. The book is a model of sensitive and sophisticated scholar-activist interpretation, with a depth of nuance and flexibility of analysis that are rare and that will serve us well." -John Foran, University of California, Santa Barbara

"Focusing on Spain as a laboratory of interactions between contentious and institutional politics, Flesher Fominaya offers a most interesting analysis of the ways in which progressive social movements can effectively reload democracies going from prefiguration to institutional changes." -Donatella della Porta, Scuola Normale Superiore, Florence