ABSTRACT

The European anti-austerity movement is generally associated with spawning leftist electoral projects, which exemplify the domestic institutionalization of activism. That the movement also generated a number of transnational coalitions with unusually broad and far-reaching ambitions remained somewhat under the radar. Projects like Alter Summit and DiEM25 seek to expand the anti-austerity movement’s struggle to the European level, by developing transnational organizational structures and challenging the political course of the EU. However, neither project managed to live up to its ambitions thus far and this article explores why. It argues that Alter Summit and DiEM25 represent attempts to create a transnational ‘modern prince’: a party-like organization that unites social movements around a counter-hegemonic strategy. While both managed to develop such strategies they also encountered challenges in facilitating democratic cohesion between transnational leaders and domestic supporters. This is partly the result of idiosyncratic shortcomings, but also reveals general challenges for transnational activism.

摘要

欧洲反紧缩运动通常与催生左翼选举项目有关，这体现了国内激进主义的制度化。这场运动还产生了一些具有异常广泛和深远野心的跨国联盟，这在某种程度上仍然没有受到关注。Alter Summit 和 DiEM25 等项目旨在通过发展跨国组织结构和挑战欧盟的政治进程，将反紧缩运动的斗争扩大到欧洲层面。然而，到目前为止，这两个项目都未能实现其雄心壮志，本文探讨了原因。它认为，Alter Summit 和 DiEM25 代表了创建跨国“现代王子”的尝试：一个类似政党的组织，围绕反霸权战略联合社会运动。虽然双方都设法制定了这样的战略，但他们在促进跨国领导人和国内支持者之间的民主凝聚力方面也遇到了挑战。这部分是特殊缺陷的结果，但也揭示了跨国行动主义的普遍挑战。