Communication in progressive movement parties: against populism and beyond digitalism

In this article, I discuss the conceptualization of movement parties and bridge it with that of communication practices. In particular, I show how the analysis of communication practices within movement parties allows going beyond the technological determinism implicit in concepts such as online populism or digital parties. At different moments in history, social movements entered institutions by forming political parties. When this happened with progressive movements, movement parties were characterized by an appeal to broaden participation through the inclusion of new groups among the population within representative institutions. This general trend is to be kept in mind when addressing the latest wave of movement parties, in particular, the progressive ones, that build upon the history of left-wing party families. Based on these reflections, I critique analyses that, with a specific focus on the core subject of this special issue, have addressed communication strategies, depicting movement parties–including those on the Left–as online populist parties or digital parties. Considering alternative (less technological and more political) explanations, I suggest instead that the effects of the technology are filtered through activists’ agency, the movement parties’ evolution being influenced by movements’ dynamics and competition in the party system. In particular, the concept of communication practices, as developed in social movement studies, will be referred to in order to move beyond some stereotypes coming from either mass media or digital media studies, and so allowing for an historical account of the evolution of movement parties’ communication

Introduction : solidarities in motion : hybridity and change in migrant support practices

The so-called ‘Eurozone’ and ‘migration’ crises mark critical moments in Europe’s recent political history and share similarities to the extent that they both have increased political conflict, mobilised large parts of civil society, and put renewed attention upon the notion of ‘solidarity’. Focusing on the specific case of solidarity with migrants, this articles argues that times of crises have increasingly blurred the lines between contentious and non-contentious forms of civil society engagement. Scrutinising these dynamics of hybridisation, we bridge diverse, yet largely disconnected literatures, including social movement, civil society and humanitarian studies. In particular, we suggest that the disciplinary and analytical distinction between volunteering and non-profit activities on the one hand and social movements and political activism on the other is too rigid and does obscure parts of a complex phenomenon, which is characterised by activities that often intersect between humanitarian practices and contentious politics

Inequality and elections in Italy, 1994–2018

The increase in income and wealth inequality in Italy is well documented, but less attention has been devoted to its association with social and political outcomes. This article investigates the association between inequality and several variables on socio-economic conditions with the evolution of Italian politics over the 1994–2018 period. Voting in Italy’s regions for the centre-left and centre-right coalitions—with a focus on the Lega—is examined in seven rounds of general elections, before and after the 2008 crisis, which emerges as a key divide in these relationships. The centre-left vote is higher in the regions with an increase in mean wealth and employment rates and shows a reversal after 2008 in the support of part time employees. The centre-right vote is associated with impoverished middle classes and an increase in disparities of Southern regions. The associations shown by Lega voting are distinct from those of other centre-right forces. While political and cultural factors are important to understand political changes, our findings show that a more unequal and distressed society is clearly associated with changes in electoral behaviour

Using instruments in the study of animate beings:Della Porta’s and Bacon’s experiments with plants

In this paper, I explain Francis Bacon's use of plants as philosophical instruments in the context of his Historia vitae et mortis. My main claim is that Bacon experimented with plants in order to obtain knowledge about the hidden processes of nature, knowledge that could be transferred to the human case and used for the prolongation of life. Bacon's experiments were based on Giambattista della Porta's reports from the Magia naturalis, but I show how a different metaphysics and research method made Bacon systematically rework, reconceptualise, and put to divergent uses the results of the same experimental reports

Costimulatory Molecules and Immune Checkpoints Are Differentially Expressed on Different Subsets of Dendritic Cells

Dendritic cells (DCs) play a crucial role in initiating and shaping immune responses. The effects of DCs on adaptive immune responses depend partly on functional specialization of distinct DC subsets, and partly on the activation state of DCs, which is largely dictated by environmental signals. Fully activated immunostimulatory DCs express high levels of costimulatory molecules, produce pro-inflammatory cytokines, and stimulate T cell proliferation, whereas tolerogenic DCs express low levels of costimulatory molecules, produce immunomodulatory cytokines and impair T cell proliferation. Relevant to the increasing use of immune checkpoint blockade in cancer treatment, signals generated from inhibitory checkpoint molecules on DC surface may also contribute to the inhibitory properties of tolerogenic DCs. Yet, our knowledge on the expression of inhibitory molecules on human DC subsets is fragmentary. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the expression of three immune checkpoints on peripheral blood DC subsets, in basal conditions and upon exposure to pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory stimuli, by using a flow cytometric panel that allows a direct comparison of the activatory/inhibitory phenotype of DC-lineage and inflammatory DC subsets. We demonstrated that functionally distinct DC subsets are characterized by differential expression of activatory and inhibitory molecules, and that cDC1s in particular are endowed with a unique immune checkpoint repertoire characterized by high TIM-3 expression, scarce PD-L1 expression and lack of ILT2. Notably, this unique cDC1 repertoire was subverted in a group of patients with myelodysplastic syndromes included in the study. Applied to the characterization of DCs in the tumor microenvironment, this panel has the potential to provide valuable information to be used for investigating the role of DC subsets in cancer, guiding DC-targeting treatments, and possibly identifying predictive biomarkers for clinical response to cancer immunotherapy

Mediating Solidarity

With the apparent increase in the number of alternative political media, political pluralists are again faced with the question: does the proliferation of subaltern counter-publics lead to a multiplication of forces? Fragmentation in political culture is fuelled by the rise of identity politics that focuses on consumption not production. Party allegiances and class alliances give way to more fluid and informal networks of action. Postmodern theorists celebrate fragmentation because it allows the recognition of diversity in political desires, acknowledges difference between individuals and debunks the myth of homogenous political units leading ultimately to liberation. But for political efficacy there must be more than the apparent freedom that comes with embracing difference and diversity. This article argues that if we accept the description of society as fragmented, in order to create a viable political community then solidarity is crucial. In a global economy, solidarity can be mediated through new communication technologies but the challenge is to articulate the politics online with actual movements and struggles on the ground