Mobilizing Emotions to Build Democratic Resilience: Feminist Coalitions in the European Union
Feminist strike in Geneva, 2023. Photo Karin Carlsson
This research project examines how women’s and LGBTQ+ rights civil society organizations in the European Union build alliances across organizational boundaries in response to democratic backsliding. It focuses on the role of emotions in shaping the formation, endurance, internal tensions, and strategic action of feminist coalitions under pressure. In doing so, the project offers new insight into how such alliances can defend democratic principles and practices while also serving as spaces where these principles are enacted and deepened.
Details
- Period: 2025-01-01 – 2027-12-31
- Budget: 6,753,000 SEK
- Funder: Swedish Research Council
Description
Across Europe, core democratic principles such as inclusion, equality, and pluralism are increasingly being challenged. Attacks on gender, sexual, and reproductive rights have become a hallmark of this broader democratic backsliding. In this research project, we examine how women’s and LGBTQ+ rights organizations in the European Union (EU) respond to these developments by collaborating across organizational boundaries.
The project focuses on the role of emotions in coalition-building: how feelings such as fear, anger, hope, or pride influence whether and how feminist civil society organizations succeed in working together. It also examines how emotions are strategically used in political messaging to counter anti-democratic and polarizing narratives. To address these questions, we conduct interviews with representatives of feminist organizations active at the EU level and analyze how they describe cooperation, conflict, and communication strategies.
Project leader Giulia Mariani says:
We want to better understand how feminist civil society organizations build alliances to uphold democratic principles and practices. By examining the role of emotions in shaping cooperation and strategic action under pressure, the project highlights how feminist coalitions can contribute to democratic resilience.