ABSTRACT
The book explores how the economic crisis and austerity policies are transforming social movements and radical political parties in southern Europe. The economic crisis has encouraged strong protest movements oriented, initially, towards strong confrontation with state apparatuses in the case of Greece and the refusal of conventional democratic institutions in Spain. This introductory chapter attempts to provide a framework in order to understand the chapters that follow. To this purpose, it reflects on the articulation among European Mediterranean countries and northern European countries by using the concepts of centre-periphery dynamics, technological rent, and the financial-real estate circuit, and on the role of materialism and electoral politics for the study of contemporary movements in the post-political era.
