Challenging precarity, austerity and delocalisation: Italian labour struggles from Euro-criticism to Euro-disenchantment

Abstract

ABSTRACT How has the experience of crisis, austerity, and precarity affected visions of Europe in the labour movement? The article answers this question through the analysis of interviews of representatives of organisations engaged in labour struggles in Italy and of documents published by the same organisations. The analysis shows that, although the crisis has challenged ‘critical Europeanism’ and radicalised vision of Europe, the border between calls for ‘another Europe’ and Eurosceptic claims seems resilient: Euro-criticism is in crisis, but has left more ground to a frustrated Euro-disenchantment than to Euro-scepticism. At the theoretical level, these findings contribute to the literature on strategic adaptation, pointing out that the reaction of movements to the closing of opportunities is far from automatic. Regarding the evolution of the Italian civil society, the shift towards Euroscepticism reflects the utter lack of hope towards the EU as a force of progress determined by a decade of austerity.

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