Os novos movimentos de protesto em França. A articulação de novas arenas públicas

Abstract

This article gives a critical panorama of the emergence of the new protest movements (NPM) in France in recent decades. The author argues that, since the 1980s, the NPM have opened up new public arenas, following the transformations in the wage society and in public policy, and as a response to the growing globalization of economic, social, and strategic mechanisms. For those who invest politically in the NPM, the importance of their emergence lies in the rearmament of social critique and in the reconstitution of the radical left. Citizens, experts, and political decision makers have had to face new public problems, especially those related to illegal immigrants (sans papiers), the jobless, and the homeless, as well as issues of public health, ecology, and consumption. New collective actors, NGOs, and movements have become unavoidable partners and adversaries of public powers. However, the article calls attention to the danger of these movements slipping into institutional party politics, which would jeopardize the concerted action of the political left and the efficacy of its performance in both the national and the European context.

Keywords

• social movements
• France
• protest movements
• political left
• citizenship
• civil society