Democratic Protests and New Forms of Collective Action: When Disobedience is Social (Contributions to Political Science)

Following a dialogic and interdisciplinary approach, this book highlights changes in the concept and action of disobedience, presenting a theoretical framework and applied case studies. Disobedience has traditionally been played out through collective actions and protests which configure and propose alternative social scenarios to the status quo. Today, in a changing socio-historical context, disobedience represents a mode of political participation and a form of an active citizenship attempt to correct authoritarian drifts. Furthermore, it often highlights social problems and morally controversial issues. Disobedience is not only a right granted to the individual within democratic systems and/or duty imposed in the interest of society in a pro-social sense, i.e. defense of human rights and a tendency towards equalization, but it also became an alternative process, often symbolic, of construction of reality. The book focuses on a) reconstructing the concept of socialdisobedience and the field's state of the art from an innovative, contemporary, theoretical, and conceptual perspective and b) analyzing its phenomenology within a specific territorial horizon, with the objective of uncovering social and pro-social aspects related to today’s forms of disobedience. The book therefore will appeal to students, scholars, and researchers of contemporary political theory, political science, democratization studies, social movement studies, criminology, legal theory, and moral philosophy. Contents Abbreviations List of Figures List of Tables Chapter 1: Disobedience, Old and New Definitions: An Introduction References Part I: Definitions: Disobedience as a Form of Dissent and Resistance in Contemporary Times Chapter 2: The Puzzle of Civil Disobedience 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Civil Disobedience 2.3 Sources of the Ethical Compass 2.4 Conscientious Disobedience: In Much of Its Variety 2.5 Expanding the Definition of Civil Disobedience 2.6 Citizen Duties 2.7 The Issue of Violence 2.8 Forms of Expressing Criticism and Civil Disobedience 2.9 Solidarity 2.10 Against the Concept of Social Civil Disobedience 2.11 A Short Note on Civil Disobedience in Repressive Regimes 2.12 Conclusion References Chapter 3: From Civil to Social: Disobedience as a Need for Transition from Representative Democracy to the Democracy of the F... 3.1 Foreword 3.2 Social Disobedience and Constituent Disobedience 3.3 The Contestation of the System 3.4 The Perennial Utopia of Democracy 3.5 Concluding Remarks References Chapter 4: The ``Standard ́ ́ Definition of Civil Disobedience Between the Fidelity-to-Law Requirement and the Rule-of-Law Ideal 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Fidelity to Law According to the ``Standard ́ ́ Definition of Civil Disobedience 4.3 ``Fidelity to Law ́ ́ and ``Rule of Law ́ ́: Different Ideas? 4.4 ``Fidelity to Law ́ ́ and ``Rule of Law ́ ́: Related Ideas? 4.5 Conclusion References Chapter 5: Judicial Civil Disobedience, the Limitations of Portia, the Futile Radicalism of Antigone, and the Wisdom of Cato 5.1 Foreword: Populist Threats and Jurisdictions as the Last Bastion of Pluralism 5.2 Theoretical Contradictions and Practical Limitations of the Heidelberg Proposal 5.3 A New Proposal: The Civil Disobedience of the Judge 5.4 Conclusions: Antigone, Portia, Moses, and Cato References Chapter 6: Disobedience: Theoretical Framework and Case Studies 6.1 Preliminary Remarks 6.2 Paths of Disobedience 6.3 Democracy and Disobedience 6.4 Final Reflections References Chapter 7: The Philosophy of Disobedience: The Detachment From the Rule as a Theoretical Act References Part II: Democracy and Solidarity-Civil, Social and Prosocial Disobedience: Challenging Issues All over the World Chapter 8: Breaching Acts that Challenge Deep Structures of Society 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Civil Disobedience 8.3 The `Breaching Act ́ Approach 8.4 Women Who Refuse to Comply with the System: Women ́s Refusal to Act Out the Roles Imposed on Them by Society 8.5 The Silence Breakers: #MeToo 8.6 Reclaiming the Body: SlutWalk Challenging Patriarchal Rape Culture 8.7 The Medium Is the Message: Women in Black Performing Breaching Acts 8.8 Concluding Remarks References Chapter 9: Understanding Victims ́ Narratives as Actions of Social Disobedience in Transitional Justice Times: The Case of the ... 9.1 Introduction 9.2 Social Memory, Social Disobedience, and Transitional Justice 9.3 Eastern Antioquia and the Initiatives of Its Victims ́ Organizations 9.4 The Case of the Never Again Museum 9.5 Conclusion References Chapter 10: Children of Homosexual Couples: Between Legislative Limits and the Disobedience of Would-Be Parents-Reflections on... 10.1 An Outline of the Question: Civil Disobedience as a Right of Resistance? 10.2 The Social Disobedience of Same-Sex Couples in Response to the Fact that Italian Legislation Does Not Provide for Same-Se... 10.3 The Legal Consequences of the Disobedience of Homosexual Parents 10.4 The Problems Associated with the Possibility of Framing Social Disobedience as a Residual (but Legitimate) Form of Defenc... References Chapter 11: Guilty Without Crime: The Policing of Solidarity with Refugees and Other Migrants 11.1 Introduction: Who Disobeys What? 11.2 EU Member States Disobeying the International Norms 11.3 EU Member States Demand `Obedience ́ from Human Rights Defenders Under EU Anti-smuggling Laws and Policies 11.4 Why Did the Facilitators ́ Package Become a Handy Tool? 11.5 Enforcing Obedience by Punishing `Intentional Assistance ́ 11.6 Conclusions: From `Social Disobedience ́ to `State Disobedience ́ References Chapter 12: Pro-social Activism: First Evidence from the Protests for Migrants ́ Rights in Sicily 12.1 Introduction 12.2 Pro-social Activism: Studying the Relationship Between Humanitarian Volunteering and Political Activism 12.3 Pro-migrant Activism Networks in Sicily: Analysis and Discussion of Data 12.3.1 The Various Souls of Pro-migrant Activism Networks in Sicily 12.3.2 The `Collective Purpose Incentives ́ and `Collective Identity Incentives ́ of Pro-migrant Networks 12.3.3 Pro-migrant Networks ́ Forms of Dissent from a Pro-social Perspective 12.4 Concluding Notes References Chapter 13: Civil Disobedience as a Current Form of Resistance: The Tax Rebellion of the Agricultural Sector in Argentina 13.1 Introduction 13.2 What Is a ``Civil Disobedient ́ ́? 13.3 The So-Called Crisis in the Argentine Countryside: A Case of Civil Disobedience? 13.4 Conclusion References Chapter 14: Why Do People Disobey the Law? Emotions and Reasons in the Protest Against the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline 14.1 Introduction 14.2 Analytical Framework 14.3 Case Study and Methods 14.4 Emotions and Disobedience in the Protest Against the TAP 14.5 Conclusions References Chapter 15: Students and Dissent 15.1 Introduction 15.2 Youth Culture and Social Change 15.3 A New Image of Youth 15.4 The `Faces of Dissent ́ 15.5 Alienated Youth 15.6 Committed Youth 15.7 The Other Faces of Dissent 15.8 A `Postmodern Youth ́ 15.9 Re(dis)covering Keniston ́s Contribution References Chapter 16: The Twenty-First Century Economy Between Global Law and National Legal Systems: The Strength of the Market and the... 16.1 The National State and the Need to Govern the Economy in the Twentieth Century Constitutions Model in Europe 16.2 Global Economy and State Crisis 16.3 Supranational and Continental Integration Processes 16.4 From the Crisis of National Sovereignty to the Dependence of the State on the Market 16.4.1 The New Economy in the Age of Artificial Intelligence 16.5 Why We Need the State 16.6 The State ́s Response to the Global Economy: The Efficiency and Modernity of Public Power 16.7 A Convinced Return to the Processes of Supranational Integration References Part III: Contemporary Changes: Disobedience in Pandemic Times Chapter 17: The Handling of the Covid-19 Pandemic and Regional or Local `Disobedience ́ 17.1 Premise 17.2 The Italian Regional and National Legislative Regulations to Tackle the Covid-19 Pandemic 17.3 The Intervention of the Constitutional Court 17.4 Conclusions References Chapter 18: Social Movements and Social Disobedience During the COVID-19 Crisis: The Case of the Italian University 18.1 Introduction 18.2 Theoretical and Methodological Notes: Civil Disobedience Between Subjectivation and Radicalization 18.3 Background: Vaccines, Green Pass and Protests in the COVID-19 Emergency 18.4 Framing Analysis: Results 18.5 Discussion of the Results and Conclusions References Chapter 19: Cosmopolitan Educational Disobedience: A Proposal for Changing Times? 19.1 In the Beginning There Was Freedom of Educational Choice 19.2 Homeschooling: A Cosmopolitan Socialization Path? 19.3 Methodological Notes 19.4 Homeschooling in Italy amid Nonviolent Protest and Educational Resistance: Three Cases to Help Us Understand 19.5 Freer Than the Free: Initial and Provisional Conclusions References Chapter 20: Disobedience in Pandemic Times: Protests for and Against Distance Learning in Italy 20.1 Introduction 20.2 Distance Learning During Covid-19 20.3 The Impact of the Pandemic on Education: Comparing Points of View 20.4 Concluding Notes References