Conservative Mobilizations of Local Organizations : Power Relations and Tensions Around Democracy

This session aims to question the mobilizations carried out at the local level by social movements or associations in a context of rising authoritarianism since the 2000s. Without limiting ourselves to a scheme confronting public authorities and citizen protest movements, we will focus on the place occupied by local organizations and movements, which can be ambivalent in the power relations at work. In Argentina, some citizens' movements have deployed, in the name of individual freedom, an anti-State and anti-Left values discourse (anti-sexual diversity, etc.), nostalgic of the periods of military dictatorship, even going so far as to demand the right to bear arms. In the Japanese case, we can observe the development of collective practices of vigilantism since the 2000s, among certain neighborhood associations, which play a significant role in the management of public spaces (hygiene, social issues, etc.). Some actions of local organizations can even lead to forms of "moral crusades" (Mathieu 2005) opposing any liberalization of morals, as in the case of movements opposing abortion. What are the conditions of possibility of these mobilizations, and what practical configurations can be observed? What is the role of local or community-based movements and organizations, and how does it vary according to political, economic and religious contexts? Based on field surveys, we will question the boundaries and tensions between democracy and authoritarianism, between emancipation and social control or censorship, between participation in organizations and political demobilization. Contributions based on empirical data from different regions of the world are welcome.