PACO, ISSN: 2035-6609 - Copyright © 2018 - University of Salento, SIBA: http://siba-ese.unisalento.it
PArtecipazione e COnflitto
* The Open Journal of Sociopolitical Studies
http://siba-ese.unisalento.it/index.php/paco
ISSN: 1972-7623 (print version)
ISSN: 2035-6609 (electronic version)
PACO, Issue 11(2) 2018: 571-598
DOI: 10.1285/i20356609v11i2p571
Published in July 15, 2018
Work licensed under a Creative Commons At-
tribution-Non commercial-Share alike 3.0
Italian License
RESEARCH ARTICLE
DISCOURSES AND PRACTICES OF RADICAL DEMOCRACY
The 15M movement as a space of mobilization *
José Candón Mena
University of Sevilla
David Montero Sánchez
University of Sevilla
Ángel Calle Collado
University of Córdoba
ABSTRACT: Social movements are builders of what are known as “grammars of democracy”, that is, val-
ues, participatory experiences, political cultures, languages and structures for articulating demands. This
article analyses the 15M or indignados (outraged) movement in Spain; a collective action that went be-
yond classical protests in response to the economic crisis and proposed changes in democratic practices.
Social movements, particularly from the 1990s onwards, have focused on democracy as both a means and
an end in order to address what they perceive as authoritarian globalization. The article approaches 15M
mainly as a space for mobilization articulating the heterogeneity of the movement as well as its effects in
Spain (anti-eviction struggles, PAH, social tides, etc.) with a direct reference to the master frame of 'radical
democracy'. Methodologically, this work is based upon interviews, focus groups and participant observa-
tion conducted from May 2011 to June 2012 during the occupation of public squares and subsequent mo-
bilizations. The text situates this phenomenon in the core of the New Global Movements, and connects it
with a decade of similar collective actions in Spain and other parts of the world. Finally, aspects such as the
role of the Internet as a tool for and driving force of new models of democracy and the scale of assemblies
in relation to deliberative democracy are also discussed.
KEYWORDS: 15-M , democracy, indignados, New Global Movements, protests
CORRESPONDING AUTHORS: David Montero Sánchez, email: davidmontero@us.es