Cristina Flesher Fominaya
Biographic Data
| ID | 355386 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Cristina Flesher Fominaya |
| GIVEN NAMES | Cristina Flesher |
| FAMILY NAME | Fominaya |
| SIGNATURE | FOMINAYA C F |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Aberdeen |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6129-2313 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 28 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 497 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 25 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 3 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2007 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 9 |
Tracing the long-term effects of social movements
Research on movement outcomes has typically divided impacts into discrete categories and prioritized short-term, easily measurable political or policy results, producing a degree of presentism and an overemphasis on “success.” Drawing on extensive secondary research on the long-term effects of Spain’s 15-M movement, this article explores both individual and collective effects in two arenas: (1) biographical consequences and (2) the effects of ide…
Introduction
Early 2020 saw the beginning of a pandemic that triggered an unprecedented global health crisis and economic turmoil. The COVID-19 pandemic also crucially affected the dynamics of political mobilization in social movements. This introduction seeks to reflect on such effects. In particular, we ask: How did the pandemic change or hinder existing struggles? To what extent did new activist networks, issues, and forms of action emerge? Drawing on the …
Mobilizing During the Covid-19 Pandemic
Political scholars express concern for the continued resilience of democracy in the face of multiple crises. In times of crisis, social movements articulate grievances and make demands of political leaders and policymakers. In contrast to the wave of pro-democracy movements following the 2008 global financial crash where protesters demanded accountability from elites, mobilization during the COVID-19 pandemic has defied expectations in several ke…
Reconsidering social movement impact on democracy
Social movement impact on democracy has primarily been treated in two ways in \nthe literature: the role of social movements in promoting democratization in the \nform of regime change; and a more recent literature on the ways social \nmovements initiate democratic innovation in governing institutions and norm \ndiffusion in already existing democracy. In this article, we argue that to fully \nunderstand social movement impact on democracy, we ne…
Reconceptualizing Democratic Innovation
Democratic innovation is one way the multiple crises of democracy can be addressed. The literature on democratic innovation has yet to adequately interrogate the role of social movements, and more specifically the movement of democratic imaginaries, in innovation, nor has it considered the specific mechanisms through which movements translate democratic imaginaries and practices into innovation. This article provides a preliminary roadmap for met…
Thank you to reviewers 2020
Our sincere thanks to all our 2020 reviewers for their dedication to the journal and for lending their insight, critique, and expertise to the peer review process that enables us to maintain a high
Democracy Reloaded
Framed in debates about the crisis of democracy, the book analyzes one of the most influential social movements of recent times: Spain’s “Indignados” or “15-M” movement. In the wake of the global financial crisis and harsh austerity policies, 15-M movement activists occupied public squares across the country, mobilized millions of Spanish citizens, gave rise to new hybrid parties such as Podemos, and inspired pro-democracy movements around the wo…
Thank you to Reviewers 2019
Our sincere thanks to all our 2019 reviewers for their dedication to the journal and for lending their insight, critique, and expertise to the peer review process that enables us to maintain a high
Resisting Austerity
Routledge Handbook of Contemporary European Social Movements
The right to commemoration and “ideal victims”
This article explores the puzzle of victim dissatisfaction with State-led commemoration following 9/11 and 3/11 by offering a cross-national case study through which to view key areas of theoretical debate in the sociology of human rights, cultural trauma and collective memory, and the politics of victimhood. Although State-led commemorative processes are often highly contested, we would expect them to be less so in the cases of 9/11 and 3/11, gi…
Navigating the technology-media-movements complex
In this article we develop the notion of the technology-media-movements complex (TMMC) as a field-definition statement for ongoing inquiry into the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in social and political movements. We consider the definitions and boundaries of the TMMC, arguing particularly for a historically rooted conception of technological development that allows better integration of the different intellectual tradit…
Life after the squares
This is a roundtable with reflections on Tahrir Square, Egypt; Syntagma Square, Greece; Rossio Square, Portugal; 15-M Puerta del Sol, Spain; Gezi Park, Turkey; and Occupy Wall Street, USA. Five years on from the birth of the movements of the streets and the squares in Tahrir Square, what has changed? This roundtable brings movement participants together in reflection on themes such as legacies, key practices and knowledge, cultural creation, and …
European anti-austerity and pro-democracy protests in the wake of the global financial crisis
European anti-austerity and pro-democracy movements form part of a global wave of protests following the global financial crisis. Despite continuity of actors and a double critique of global capitalism and democratic deficits from the previous Global Justice Movement, the centrality of the nation as target and focus of mobilization is a significant difference in this wave. The economic impact of the crisis and austerity policies is insufficient t…
Cultural Barriers to Activist Networking
Transnational coordination is a key aspiration of activists seeking to mobilize globally, yet the literature pays insufficient attention to the impact of cultural differences on transnational networking. In this article I draw on ethnographic data from three European autonomous social movement encounters in the Global Justice Movement (2002–2004) to demonstrate the impact of culture clashes between activists on transnational networking. I use the…
Unintended consequences
Unintended consequences
The relation between face-to-face and online communication and its impact on collective identity processes is understudied. In this article I draw on two case studies conducted during a 3-year ethnographic study of the Global Justice Movement network in Madrid, Spain, from 2002 to 2005 to explore the unintended impact of e-mail on the sustainability, internal dynamics, and collective identity of two groups committed to participatory and deliberat…
Redefining the Crisis/Redefining Democracy
European anti-austerity movements are challenging fundamental assumptions about the role of the market and the state. In Spain, the twin claims of the movements are a demand for ‘real democracy’ and an end to austerity measures resulting from the global financial crisis. I argue that these demands are intertwined. Using critical discourse analysis, I explore the Platform of Those Affected by Mortgages' controversial escrache campaign to show how …
Debunking Spontaneity
The Spanish 15-M/Indignados have drawn global attention for the strength and longevity of their anti-austerity mobilizations. Two features have been highlighted as particularly noteworthy: (1) Their refusal to allow institutional left actors to participate in or represent the movement, framed as a movement of ‘ordinary citizens’ and (2) their insistence on the use of deliberative democratic practices in large public assemblies as a central organi…
Social Movements and Globalization
Spanish Indignados and the evolution of 15M
The authors of this article have offered insight into a fascinating aspect of contemporary political participation, drawing on compelling data tracking the use of Twitter over key peaks of mobiliza
Understanding European Movements
The Madrid bombings and popular protest
This article analyses the '13-M' flash mob protests following the 11-M terrorist bombings in Madrid and immediately preceding the Spanish General Elections of 14 March 2004. The Governing Popular Party's insistence that ETA were the main suspects, despite contradictory evidence, led to a widespread perception that they were deliberately misleading the public for electoral purposes. This sparked the indignation and mobilisation of thousands of cit…
Collective Identity in Social Movements
The concept of collective identity has been used extensively by social movement scholars seeking to explain how social movements generate and sustain commitment and cohesion between actors over time. Despite its wide application, collective identity is a notoriously abstract concept. This article focuses on the use of the concept in the literature on contemporary social movements and offers a comprehensive theoretical overview. The central elemen…
Creating Cohesion from Diversity
Collective identity formation is important because it plays a crucial role in sustaining movements over time. Studying collective identity formation in autonomous groups in the Global Justice Movement poses a challenge because they encompass a multiplicity of identities, ideologies, issues, frames, collective action repertoires, and organizational forms. This article analyzes the process of collective identity formation in three anti-capitalist g…
Collective Identity in Social Movements
The concept of collective identity has been used extensively by social movement scholars seeking to explain how social movements generate and sustain commitment and cohesion between actors over time. Despite its wide application, collective identity is a notoriously abstract concept. This article focuses on the use of the concept in the literature on contemporary social movements and offers a comprehensive theoretical overview. The central elemen…
Debunking Spontaneity
The Spanish 15-M/Indignados have drawn global attention for the strength and longevity of their anti-austerity mobilizations. Two features have been highlighted as particularly noteworthy: (1) Their refusal to allow institutional left actors to participate in or represent the movement, framed as a movement of ‘ordinary citizens’ and (2) their insistence on the use of deliberative democratic practices in large public assemblies as a central organi…
Creating Cohesion from Diversity
Collective identity formation is important because it plays a crucial role in sustaining movements over time. Studying collective identity formation in autonomous groups in the Global Justice Movement poses a challenge because they encompass a multiplicity of identities, ideologies, issues, frames, collective action repertoires, and organizational forms. This article analyzes the process of collective identity formation in three anti-capitalist g…
European anti-austerity and pro-democracy protests in the wake of the global financial crisis
European anti-austerity and pro-democracy movements form part of a global wave of protests following the global financial crisis. Despite continuity of actors and a double critique of global capitalism and democratic deficits from the previous Global Justice Movement, the centrality of the nation as target and focus of mobilization is a significant difference in this wave. The economic impact of the crisis and austerity policies is insufficient t…
Redefining the Crisis/Redefining Democracy
European anti-austerity movements are challenging fundamental assumptions about the role of the market and the state. In Spain, the twin claims of the movements are a demand for ‘real democracy’ and an end to austerity measures resulting from the global financial crisis. I argue that these demands are intertwined. Using critical discourse analysis, I explore the Platform of Those Affected by Mortgages' controversial escrache campaign to show how …
Autonomous Movements and the Institutional Left
This paper explores the configuration of the anti-globalization movement network in Madrid. It identifies a central tension between two different approaches to political practice, which fall along autonomous/ institutional lines. Despite ideological heterogeneity and frame convergence on both sides of this 'divide', the differences in approach to political practice create real tensions when these groups attempt to work together. These tensions ha…
The Role of Humour in the Process of Collective Identity Formation in Autonomous Social Movement Groups in Contemporary Madrid
This article draws on ethnographic research to analyse the role of humour in the process of collective identity formation within autonomous anti-capitalist groups in Madrid. Autonomous groups embrace the principles of horizontality, openness, diversity, participatory democracy, self-organization, and direct action, so defining themselves in contradistinction to more “vertical” movement organizations of the institutional left. The process of colle…
Life after the squares
This is a roundtable with reflections on Tahrir Square, Egypt; Syntagma Square, Greece; Rossio Square, Portugal; 15-M Puerta del Sol, Spain; Gezi Park, Turkey; and Occupy Wall Street, USA. Five years on from the birth of the movements of the streets and the squares in Tahrir Square, what has changed? This roundtable brings movement participants together in reflection on themes such as legacies, key practices and knowledge, cultural creation, and …
Navigating the technology-media-movements complex
In this article we develop the notion of the technology-media-movements complex (TMMC) as a field-definition statement for ongoing inquiry into the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in social and political movements. We consider the definitions and boundaries of the TMMC, arguing particularly for a historically rooted conception of technological development that allows better integration of the different intellectual tradit…
Unintended consequences
The relation between face-to-face and online communication and its impact on collective identity processes is understudied. In this article I draw on two case studies conducted during a 3-year ethnographic study of the Global Justice Movement network in Madrid, Spain, from 2002 to 2005 to explore the unintended impact of e-mail on the sustainability, internal dynamics, and collective identity of two groups committed to participatory and deliberat…
The Madrid bombings and popular protest
This article analyses the '13-M' flash mob protests following the 11-M terrorist bombings in Madrid and immediately preceding the Spanish General Elections of 14 March 2004. The Governing Popular Party's insistence that ETA were the main suspects, despite contradictory evidence, led to a widespread perception that they were deliberately misleading the public for electoral purposes. This sparked the indignation and mobilisation of thousands of cit…
Mobilizing During the Covid-19 Pandemic
Political scholars express concern for the continued resilience of democracy in the face of multiple crises. In times of crisis, social movements articulate grievances and make demands of political leaders and policymakers. In contrast to the wave of pro-democracy movements following the 2008 global financial crash where protesters demanded accountability from elites, mobilization during the COVID-19 pandemic has defied expectations in several ke…
Reconceptualizing Democratic Innovation
Democratic innovation is one way the multiple crises of democracy can be addressed. The literature on democratic innovation has yet to adequately interrogate the role of social movements, and more specifically the movement of democratic imaginaries, in innovation, nor has it considered the specific mechanisms through which movements translate democratic imaginaries and practices into innovation. This article provides a preliminary roadmap for met…
Cultural Barriers to Activist Networking
Transnational coordination is a key aspiration of activists seeking to mobilize globally, yet the literature pays insufficient attention to the impact of cultural differences on transnational networking. In this article I draw on ethnographic data from three European autonomous social movement encounters in the Global Justice Movement (2002–2004) to demonstrate the impact of culture clashes between activists on transnational networking. I use the…
Understanding European Movements
Introduction
Early 2020 saw the beginning of a pandemic that triggered an unprecedented global health crisis and economic turmoil. The COVID-19 pandemic also crucially affected the dynamics of political mobilization in social movements. This introduction seeks to reflect on such effects. In particular, we ask: How did the pandemic change or hinder existing struggles? To what extent did new activist networks, issues, and forms of action emerge? Drawing on the …
The right to commemoration and “ideal victims”
This article explores the puzzle of victim dissatisfaction with State-led commemoration following 9/11 and 3/11 by offering a cross-national case study through which to view key areas of theoretical debate in the sociology of human rights, cultural trauma and collective memory, and the politics of victimhood. Although State-led commemorative processes are often highly contested, we would expect them to be less so in the cases of 9/11 and 3/11, gi…
Reconsidering social movement impact on democracy
Social movement impact on democracy has primarily been treated in two ways in \nthe literature: the role of social movements in promoting democratization in the \nform of regime change; and a more recent literature on the ways social \nmovements initiate democratic innovation in governing institutions and norm \ndiffusion in already existing democracy. In this article, we argue that to fully \nunderstand social movement impact on democracy, we ne…
Spanish Indignados and the evolution of 15M
The authors of this article have offered insight into a fascinating aspect of contemporary political participation, drawing on compelling data tracking the use of Twitter over key peaks of mobiliza
The Role of Humour in the Process of Collective Identity Formation in Autonomous Social Movement Groups in Contemporary Madrid
This article draws on ethnographic research to analyse the role of humour in the process of collective identity formation within autonomous anti-capitalist groups in Madrid. Autonomous groups embrace the principles of horizontality, openness, diversity, participatory democracy, self-organization, and direct action, so defining themselves in contradistinction to more “vertical” movement organizations of the institutional left. The process of colle…
Autonomous Movements and the Institutional Left
This paper explores the configuration of the anti-globalization movement network in Madrid. It identifies a central tension between two different approaches to political practice, which fall along autonomous/ institutional lines. Despite ideological heterogeneity and frame convergence on both sides of this 'divide', the differences in approach to political practice create real tensions when these groups attempt to work together. These tensions ha…
Becoming a Citizen
Collective Identity in Social Movements
The concept of collective identity has been used extensively by social movement scholars seeking to explain how social movements generate and sustain commitment and cohesion between actors over time. Despite its wide application, collective identity is a notoriously abstract concept. This article focuses on the use of the concept in the literature on contemporary social movements and offers a comprehensive theoretical overview. The central elemen…
Creating Cohesion from Diversity
Collective identity formation is important because it plays a crucial role in sustaining movements over time. Studying collective identity formation in autonomous groups in the Global Justice Movement poses a challenge because they encompass a multiplicity of identities, ideologies, issues, frames, collective action repertoires, and organizational forms. This article analyzes the process of collective identity formation in three anti-capitalist g…
The Madrid bombings and popular protest
This article analyses the '13-M' flash mob protests following the 11-M terrorist bombings in Madrid and immediately preceding the Spanish General Elections of 14 March 2004. The Governing Popular Party's insistence that ETA were the main suspects, despite contradictory evidence, led to a widespread perception that they were deliberately misleading the public for electoral purposes. This sparked the indignation and mobilisation of thousands of cit…
Understanding European Movements
Social Movements and Globalization
Spanish Indignados and the evolution of 15M
The authors of this article have offered insight into a fascinating aspect of contemporary political participation, drawing on compelling data tracking the use of Twitter over key peaks of mobiliza
Unintended consequences
The relation between face-to-face and online communication and its impact on collective identity processes is understudied. In this article I draw on two case studies conducted during a 3-year ethnographic study of the Global Justice Movement network in Madrid, Spain, from 2002 to 2005 to explore the unintended impact of e-mail on the sustainability, internal dynamics, and collective identity of two groups committed to participatory and deliberat…
Redefining the Crisis/Redefining Democracy
European anti-austerity movements are challenging fundamental assumptions about the role of the market and the state. In Spain, the twin claims of the movements are a demand for ‘real democracy’ and an end to austerity measures resulting from the global financial crisis. I argue that these demands are intertwined. Using critical discourse analysis, I explore the Platform of Those Affected by Mortgages' controversial escrache campaign to show how …
Debunking Spontaneity
The Spanish 15-M/Indignados have drawn global attention for the strength and longevity of their anti-austerity mobilizations. Two features have been highlighted as particularly noteworthy: (1) Their refusal to allow institutional left actors to participate in or represent the movement, framed as a movement of ‘ordinary citizens’ and (2) their insistence on the use of deliberative democratic practices in large public assemblies as a central organi…
Cultural Barriers to Activist Networking
Transnational coordination is a key aspiration of activists seeking to mobilize globally, yet the literature pays insufficient attention to the impact of cultural differences on transnational networking. In this article I draw on ethnographic data from three European autonomous social movement encounters in the Global Justice Movement (2002–2004) to demonstrate the impact of culture clashes between activists on transnational networking. I use the…
Unintended consequences
Navigating the technology-media-movements complex
In this article we develop the notion of the technology-media-movements complex (TMMC) as a field-definition statement for ongoing inquiry into the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in social and political movements. We consider the definitions and boundaries of the TMMC, arguing particularly for a historically rooted conception of technological development that allows better integration of the different intellectual tradit…
Life after the squares
This is a roundtable with reflections on Tahrir Square, Egypt; Syntagma Square, Greece; Rossio Square, Portugal; 15-M Puerta del Sol, Spain; Gezi Park, Turkey; and Occupy Wall Street, USA. Five years on from the birth of the movements of the streets and the squares in Tahrir Square, what has changed? This roundtable brings movement participants together in reflection on themes such as legacies, key practices and knowledge, cultural creation, and …
European anti-austerity and pro-democracy protests in the wake of the global financial crisis
European anti-austerity and pro-democracy movements form part of a global wave of protests following the global financial crisis. Despite continuity of actors and a double critique of global capitalism and democratic deficits from the previous Global Justice Movement, the centrality of the nation as target and focus of mobilization is a significant difference in this wave. The economic impact of the crisis and austerity policies is insufficient t…
The right to commemoration and “ideal victims”
This article explores the puzzle of victim dissatisfaction with State-led commemoration following 9/11 and 3/11 by offering a cross-national case study through which to view key areas of theoretical debate in the sociology of human rights, cultural trauma and collective memory, and the politics of victimhood. Although State-led commemorative processes are often highly contested, we would expect them to be less so in the cases of 9/11 and 3/11, gi…
Resisting Austerity
Routledge Handbook of Contemporary European Social Movements
Democracy Reloaded
Framed in debates about the crisis of democracy, the book analyzes one of the most influential social movements of recent times: Spain’s “Indignados” or “15-M” movement. In the wake of the global financial crisis and harsh austerity policies, 15-M movement activists occupied public squares across the country, mobilized millions of Spanish citizens, gave rise to new hybrid parties such as Podemos, and inspired pro-democracy movements around the wo…
Thank you to Reviewers 2019
Our sincere thanks to all our 2019 reviewers for their dedication to the journal and for lending their insight, critique, and expertise to the peer review process that enables us to maintain a high
Thank you to reviewers 2020
Our sincere thanks to all our 2020 reviewers for their dedication to the journal and for lending their insight, critique, and expertise to the peer review process that enables us to maintain a high
Reconceptualizing Democratic Innovation
Democratic innovation is one way the multiple crises of democracy can be addressed. The literature on democratic innovation has yet to adequately interrogate the role of social movements, and more specifically the movement of democratic imaginaries, in innovation, nor has it considered the specific mechanisms through which movements translate democratic imaginaries and practices into innovation. This article provides a preliminary roadmap for met…
Reconsidering social movement impact on democracy
Social movement impact on democracy has primarily been treated in two ways in \nthe literature: the role of social movements in promoting democratization in the \nform of regime change; and a more recent literature on the ways social \nmovements initiate democratic innovation in governing institutions and norm \ndiffusion in already existing democracy. In this article, we argue that to fully \nunderstand social movement impact on democracy, we ne…
Political science (24 works) · Sociology (22 works) · Law (19 works) · Politics (18 works) · Law (13 works) · Social movement (11 works) · Aesthetics (8 works) · Democracy (8 works) · Social Policy and Reform Studies (8 works) · Movement (music (7 works)