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https://journals.openedition.org/ideas/10586, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

The case of the Ultras’ mobilisation and their subsequent demobilisation in the Egyptian revolutionary and post-revolutionary context raises the question of the relationship between the notion of contention and repression, which are questions that are at the centre of debates in the literature. Based on a thorough analysis of the Ultras groups’ collective actions, this dissertation aims at understanding the mobilisation and demobilisation mechanisms at play in revolutionary and post-revolutionary Egypt. Inspired by the literature of contentious collective action and the sociology of sport in various national contexts, we aim at answering the following question: how and in what ways did the Ultras adapt their tools and spaces of mobilisation to avoid state repression? This further prompted the question of the Ultras’ impact on the making of spaces of contention and the general capacity of football fandom to encourage mobilisation. The generalised context of surveillance and control encouraged the development of alternative means and spaces to avoid state repression. Among these alternatives means and spaces, were the stadium, as well as the Ultras’ street art and songs. By investing and (re)possessing these spaces, we show that the Ultras were able to transform a space into an area of conflict and contestation. In other words, these alternative means and spaces can be seen as a way for them to break away from the shackles of social and institutional norms to oppose the general “paradigm of depression, control and normalisation of apathy”. The return to authoritarianism and the coming to power of General Abdel Fattah al Sisi (since June 2013), however, drastically impacted on collective action, as the various groups witnessed the progressive destruction of the spaces of protest and memorialisation that had been developing since the onset of the uprisings. In this regard, we investigate the issue of the demobilisation of the Ultras groups and progressive effacement of spaces of contention. Looking back on the events of the 2011 uprisings and the subsequent 2013 uprisings against president Morsi and regime response, we establish that the general disappearance of protest is linked to the banalisation of violence, which instilled this idea that brutality was commonplace, almost inconsequential because a part of Egyptians’ daily lives. We conclude the dissertation by reflecting on the delocalisation of dissent through the collective act of remembrance. Indeed, the new laws on social media suggest additional efforts from the regime to contain and control political dissent, further contributing to the expansion of the concept of “tentacular state”. In this regard, the acts of remembrance can be understood as a way for the social actors to redefine their repertoires of collective action. Through the digitisation and subsequent dissemination of narratives, photos, videos and sounds, social actors such as the Ultras repossess new spaces of dissent and resistance beyond their physical borders. Ultimately, the power of digitisation and collective acts of remembrance lies in their capacity and potential to stimulate dissent, thus securing political effects., Doctorat en Sciences politiques et sociales, info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

In this doctoral dissertation, I put party members and activists back in context. I stress theimportance of two contextual dimensions, often overlooked in the scientific literature. On theone hand, I put forward social network explanations of party membership and activism,emphasizing the importance of social interactions, relations and structures, which were scarcelyexplored as potential triggers. Like other forms of participation, party membership haspredominantly been portrayed through individuals as isolated, independent units, disconnectedfrom their micro social environment. On the other hand, local party branches as research objecthave often been ignored in the literature on party organisations, dominated by research on thenational mother party. Yet, we know little about how these local groups organise, how theycontribute to the recruitment and retention of members, and, more broadly, how the local partylevel copes with the challenges faced by the national organisation.With contribution on both supply and demand side of party membership studies, my dissertationis interested in questioning party membership and activism through network triggers and localparty organisations. Therefore, the final work comprises and articulates three empiricalchapters, offering their own sets of empirical analyses developed on original data.Inspired by network theory of political participation, the first chapter highlights the role ofpersonal networks as micro-contexts. Relying on original survey data gathered among a quotasample of 2,800 Belgian citizens, the chapter raises the question how the structure andcomposition of citizens’ social networks influence their probability to be party members.Regarding the structure, I demonstrate that the chance of joining a party increases alongnetwork size and density, with a stronger effect when the network is operationalised throughpolitical discussion. Regarding the composition, I show a major, positive effect of politicalattributes (attitudes of others: satisfaction and party closeness; and behaviours of other: otherforms of participation and party membership) and homophily (congruence in the network onthose political attributes) on the chances of joining a party, and, furthermore, the dominant partyin the network. Besides, social composition and homophily calls for further investigations.Overall, the chapter shows the effect of social context: how individuals behave and think towardpolitical parties is intimately linked with the features of their close social environment.The second chapter looks at party membership in local context. Framed by a functionalapproach of local party organisations, the chapter is dedicated to a qualitative assessment oflocal party branches as social and political groups. I ask how they organise, how they function,and, ultimately, discuss how they are impacted by party change. For this, I rely on a qualitativeanalysis of various empirical materials: hours of ethnographic observation within 11 local partybranches active in Brussels, complemented by interviews with their local presidents and adocument analysis of party statutes and local party rules and procedures, complemented withother internal and public party documents (leaflets, emails, posters, invitations, minutes,agenda, etc.). I show, first, that the organisation of local parties can be read through the trypticdeveloped to apprehend their national organisation (on the ground, in central and public office).Actually, local branches are divided into smaller groups, which all adopt different formal rulesand informal practices. Second, I stress that local party branches fulfil specific functions and anessential role of organisational and democratic maintenance, even if national membershipfigures are dropping. Local parties are involved in a complex dynamic between their role intheir municipality and as part of a larger party organisation. Nonetheless, this second chapterconcludes by pinpointing evidence of local party change: ascendency of the central and publicoffice, concentration of power, gap between members and officials, focus on nominationfunctions, etc.The third and last chapter puts party members in social and local party context. Bringing backnetwork theory, the chapter questions to what extent party activism might be triggered by thesocial networks built by members with their local branch fellows, or with higher party actors.The chapter consists in a quantitative analysis of survey data collected among local partyinformants belonging to 5 of the 11 local party branches. Respondents completed a shortquestionnaire adopting a similar operationalisation of social networks as in the first part of thedissertation. I demonstrate that the central place occupied by members in the network of theirlocal party branch (network centrality) is a good predictor of involvement at both the local andother organisational levels. This finding provides evidence to the “strength of strong ties” theoryin context of party organisation. In other words, the more a member is connected to othermembers of the branch aside from formal party activities, the more probability for this memberto be a party activist. I also show that extensive contacts with elected officials enhance thechances of joining a local party branch. Finally, I highlight that party members motivated bysolidary incentives are less likely to take part in higher participatory opportunities proposed bypolitical parties.More generally, my dissertation explores contexts in which party members and activists areembedded. It goes beyond individualistic considerations of traditional political behaviour andbrings back the local level into the organisational analysis of party membership.Methodologically, I extensively rely on Social Network Analysis to provide original relationalinsights on phenomena deeply collective by nature. Empirically, I focus on Belgium, a casehighly relevant to test new, “social” perspective on party membership., Doctorat en Sciences politiques et sociales, info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The characteristics of Mexico are different to the characteristics of countries where the mainstream theories on social movements were developed — which are countries with consolidated democracies. Hence, to study the Mexican case, one must be aware of this difference, as one of the fundamental aims of this thesis is to evaluate the pertinence of these theories in a young democracy with an authoritarian heritage that experiences conditions of social inequality, insecurity and low levels of trust in public institutions. A question that must be asked first is whether the case of Mexico, following the mainstream theories, is going to produce similar outcomes to those that we can find in the literature, or due to the peculiarities of this country, the outcomes are going to be different. In this research work we take the individual as a unit of analysis. Thus, we analyze the variables that have an effect on the propensity of individuals to protest. Beyond the paths of pure micro, meso or macro level analyses, this thesis examines these three social levels in combination to explain the individuals' likelihood to participate in protest events. That is to say, we analyze the effects of the macro or meso level on the micro level. With this aim, we seek to determine whether the case of Mexico is going to produce similar outcomes to those that we can find in the literature or, whether due to the peculiarities of this country the outcomes are going to differ. Contrary to other studies which only analyze the characteristics of protesters, in this work we analyze the characteristics of both protesters and non-protesters. The latter is an important group of analysis, since with it we can make a real contrast to observe which variables are more likely to trigger protest participation in individuals., Doctorat en Sciences politiques et sociales, info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished