Taking to the streets in the shadow of austerity: a chronology of the cycle of protests In Spain, 2007-2015

Abstract

Based on theories of cycles of collective behavior, this piece establishes a periodization of the cycle of anti-austerity and anti-political status quo protests in the shadow of the Great Recession that Spain faced between 2007 and 2015. More specifically, it tries to explain why the peak of protests persist-ed for so long: radicalization was contained, institutionalization postponed and protesters’ divisions avoid-ed. The crucial argument here, an innovation with regards to the classic theories of cycles, is that the high standards of mobilization persisted for a long time as the result of the issue specialization of a more gen-eral anti-austerity fight and the strategic alliances ––with varying degrees of formality–– that new civil or-ganizations forged with the unions. For illustrating the longitudinal dynamics of the cycle of protests, we use original protest event data.