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.

The dairy billionaire Theo Müller is friends with Alice Weidel, the co-leader of the right-wing extremist party Alternative for Germany. She and other fringe figures were invited to his extravagant bi...

The definitive textbook on EU politics and governance, now in its 9th edition, has been thoroughly updated to take into account the ongoing developments and evo…

The definitive textbook on EU politics and governance, now in its 9th edition, has been thoroughly updated to take into account the ongoing developments and evo…

The European Commission says it has no choice but to work with the 'dodgy' Libyan authorities, as it accuses officials in the country of forcing people onto dangerous boats.

Vom Integrationsprojekt zur Dauerbaustelle im Schatten der EU-Asylpolitik