Instead of sheltering pro-democracy dissidents, America is now returning them for arrest.

Social movement scholarship has emphasized that progressive ‘Europeanization from below’ may be a breeding ground for major EU reform and democratization. Empirically, however, activists have found it difficult to make gains when targeting the EU. To understand the challenges that activists face in the context of transnational EU mobilization, our article draws from agency-oriented approaches in social movement studies to propose an ‘EU mobilization package’, comprising three recurring strategic dilemmas that activists encounter: (a) the formulation of goals that both address the transnational level and appeal to national or local constituencies, (b) the building of a transnational political organization that is both inclusive and effective, and (c) whether and how to interact with EU institutions, particularly in the context of European Parliament elections. We apply this framework to the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25), an organization founded by Yanis Varoufakis in 2016, which is a key example of social movement dissensus to EU politics. Methodologically, we rely on comprehensive interview data, the analysis of a large corpus of DiEM25 online and offline publications, and participant observation of three public events. A discussion of the group’s strategic challenges provides important general lessons for our understanding of social movement mobilization targeting EU politics as well as transnational activism.

Civil society groups funded by billionaire’s charitable foundation feel vulnerable to administration’s attacks

Andrej Babiš’s ANO won the 2025 Czech election on 3–4 October. Yet as Jan Rovny explains, Babiš will find it challenging to form a stable government.

Editor’s note: The following article is one of 30 that we’ve selected from our archives to celebrate World Politics Review’s 15th anniversary. You can find the full collection here. On a Saturday morn...

Ukraine wants to accelerate work on joining the 27-member bloc.

Brussels advises Kyiv to advance technical work despite Budapest holding up talks

The Centre for European Reform is looking for a technology fellow to join its research team.