In the face of high unemployment in Europe for the past thirty years, the unemployed have organized themselves and mobilized at levels ranging from the local to the transnational. This work explores why, when, and how the unemployed move from acquiescence to protest.

"This compilation of country-specific studies provides a wealth of information to help us make sense of the protest movements erupting across Europe. The book is timely indeed!" Frances Fox Piven, distinguished professor of political science and sociology, The Graduate Center, City University of New York

"This is an outstanding collection of essays on the relatively neglected topic of political mobilization around unemployment. It takes the standards of scholarship in this area to a new level of empirical detail and theoretical sophistication. Especially innovative and important is the comparative analysis of unemployed mobilizations across a range of diverse developed nations. The editors are to be congratulated on an excellent volume. The publication is timely during a period of renewed economic crisis that social scientists are only just beginning to analyze. Chabanet and Faniel's text will be a key reference in understanding the political consequences of economic recession and unemployment for many years to come." Paul Bagguley, reader in Sociology, University of Leeds

Autorentext
DIDIER CHABANET Marie Curie Fellow at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy, and Senior Research Fellow at the Triangle Research Centre of the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, France.
JEAN FANIEL Researcher at the Centre de Recherche et d'Information Socio-Politiques (CRISP) in Brussels, Belgium.

Inhalt
The Mobilization of the Unemployed in a Comparative Perspective; D. Chabanet & J. Faniel The Long History of a New Cause: The Mobilization of the Unemployed in France; D. Chabanet The Mobilization of the Unemployed in Germany (1998-2004); B. Baumgarten & C. Lahusen Inside or Outside Trade Unions? The Mobilization of the Unemployed in Belgium; J. Faniel The Movement of the Unemployed in Finland; E. Luhtakallio & M. Siisiäinen The Mobilization of the Unemployed in Italy: The Case of Naples - S. Baglioni The Organization of the Unemployed in Spain: Local and Fragmented Dynamics - S. Béroud Contention over Unemployment in Britain: Unemployment Politics vs. the Politics of the Unemployed; M. Cinalli Organizing the Unemployed in Ireland; F. Royall Political Opportunities and the Mobilization of the Unemployed in Switzerland; M. Berclaz, K. Füglister & M. Giugni The Mobilization That Was Not: Explaining the Weak Politicization of the Issue of Unemployment in Poland; C. Spieser & K. Sztandar-Sztanderska