Donatella della Porta is Professor of Sociology in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the European University Institute, where she teaches courses on political sociology, transformations in democracy, social movements and civil society as well as qualitative methods and research designs. Her main research interests concern social movements, political violence, terrorism, corruption, police, and policies of public order.

Manuela Caiani is a Research Assistant in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the European University Institute, where she works for the VETO project on "Processes of Radicalization and Violent Political Activism", focussing on right wing extremism in several European countries (Germany, Italy) and the US. Her main research interests concern social movements, Europeanization, political violence, right wing extremism, and social capital.

"Perceiving contestation as a pre-condition for the emergence of a European public sphere, Manuela Caiani and Donatella della Porta are primarily concerned about one question: to what extent are we witnessing a Europeanization of social movements?...Della Porta and Caiani have shown that there is a form of European criticism emerging, which is fundamentally different from nationalist Euroscepticism on which research has focused in the past."--Journal of Common Market Studies

"This book offers a clear and succinct analysis of the relationship between the process of Europeanization and social movements...The clarity of the analysis makes the book accessible to those who are not experts in the field."--European Journal of International Law