ABSTRACT
Over the past decade, Portugal, like other Southern European countries, has experienced high levels of social and political mobilization against austerity measures agreed between the Portuguese government and the so-called troika: new groups of protesters and large-scale events have contributed to a reconfiguration of social movements. However, since 2015 the parliamentary governance agreement between left-wing parties, along with the pandemic context, have produced a significant decrease in the activity of social movements. During this post-troika period, a return to micro-scale protest events based on a more diffused thematic agenda was observed. This includes grassroots movements, such as the youth mobilizations calling for climate justice, anti-racist campaigns against police violence and demands for the right to housing in urban areas.
In this chapter, following a qualitative approach based on in-depth interviews and document analysis, we focus on social movements during and after the austerity crisis. We also seek to demonstrate that while mobilization issues follow an international agenda, the national structures of political opportunity continue to have a strong influence on the organization of protest groups in Portuguese society.
