ABSTRACT
Enduring Austerity compares the differences in the unfolding of the cycle of protest between 2011 and 2013, arguing that as austerity persisted, new coalitions of players emerged, and claims for representation gave way to claims for redistribution. If in Spain social movements allied with trade unions and sustained the wave of protests, in Portugal a strategic alliance between parties, trade unions and some movement players dominated protest. Rather than a discourse that was critical of the regime, as in Spain, mobilisations in Portugal were characterised by demands for the defence of the legacy of the 1974 revolution. Claims for democratic representation never dominated in Portugal, and were only visible amongst fringe groups of marginal significance to the anti-austerity protest dynamics.
