ABSTRACT
A main characteristic of the Italian global justice movement (GJM) is its heterogeneity. Along with active involvement of organizations originating in the labor movement and an impressive presence of groups with a Catholic background, the movement includes activists from the social centers of the 1990s (autonomous youth centers in occupied buildings) as well as the “new” social movements of the 1970s and 1980s. In the first part of our contribution, we will underline the characteristics of the social movement sector and of the political opportunity structure in Italy that have facilitated cross-fertilization and networking among groups with such diverse backgrounds. In the second part, we will present the main organizational networks of the movement and their models of internal democracy.
