Social Movements and Public Administration: Spontaneous Citizens’ Committees in Florence

Donatella Della Porta and Massimiliano Andretta

International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 2002, vol. 26, issue 2, 244-265

Abstract: Urban protest is often carried out by citizens’ committees: that is, political groups that mobilize on issues affecting a small territorial area, use various forms of protest, and are organized in very loosely structured forms. Based on interviews with members of citizens’ committees in Florence, this article discusses their identities, strategies and organizational models, as well as their interaction with local authorities. Active mainly in issues of pollution and security, the Florentine committees frame their demands in terms of defending or improving quality of life in a defined territory. Mobilizing citizens who have often had previous experience in voluntary and/or political associations, citizens’ committees evidence a strongly participatory organizational model, with, however, notably discontinuous levels of activity. Whilst privileging moderate forms of protest, citizens’ committees also seem to have more and more channels of access to the institutions of local government, which sometimes perceive them as a source of information and aggregate consensus. The quality of the interactions between citizens’ committees and the public administration plays an important role in determining the extent to which this type of urban protest produces social capital. La contestation urbaine est souvent menée par des comités citoyens, c’est–à–dire des groupes politiques qui se mobilisent sur des problèmes affectant une zone territoriale limitée, emploient diverses formes de protestation et s’organisent selon des structures très informelles. A partir d’entretiens avec des membres de comités citoyens de Florence, cet article étudie leurs identités, stratégies et modèles d’organisation, ainsi que leur interaction avec les autorités locales. Surtout actifs sur des questions de pollution et de sécurité, les comités florentins formulent leurs revendications en termes de défense ou d’amélioration de la qualité de la vie dans un territoire donné. Mobilisant les citoyens qui, souvent, ont déjà eu une expérience dans des associations bénévoles et/ou politiques, ces comités démontrent un modèle organisationnel fortement participatif avec, toutefois, des degrés d’activité particulièrement intermittents. Bien que privilégiant des formes modérées de contestation, les comités citoyens semblent disposer de moyens toujours plus nombreux d’accéder aux institutions des gouvernements locaux, lesquelles les considèrent parfois comme une source d’informations et de consensus collectif. La qualité des interactions entre les comités citoyens et l’administration publique est importante si l’on veut déterminer dans quelle mesure ce type de contestation urbaine génère un capital social.

Date: 2002
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