Democratic Resistance from Below: Social Movements against Backlash and Backsliding

Across established democracies, the rise of the radical right has been accompanied by attacks on minority rights, the normalization of exclusionary and nativist discourses, and growing restrictions on political and civic freedoms. While political backlash and democratic backsliding are closely connected, they capture distinct processes. Backlash refers to regressive forms of political contestation aimed at reversing previous advances in rights and inclusion; democratic backsliding concerns the gradual erosion of democratic norms, institutions, safeguards, and spaces for participation. The two intersect when regressive claims move from contentious and discursive arenas into institutional practice, restricting rights and narrowing civic and political space.
This panel investigates progressive social movements as actors of democratic resistance from a comparative perspective, asking how they respond to the consolidation of right-wing backlash politics and processes of democratic erosion. Rather than focusing only on large-scale protest, it adopts a broad understanding of resistance from below. It welcomes contributions examining mobilizations around social justice, civil and minority rights, and democracy from below, but also less visible forms of everyday resistance, including practices of care and solidarity and material support for groups targeted by exclusionary policies.
Particular attention will be devoted to both the generational and relational dimensions of resistance. First, younger generations have played a particularly visible role in recent climate and pro-Palestinian mobilizations. Second, alliances, coalitions, and cross-movement networks have proved crucial in connecting different struggles and broadening movements’ capacity to oppose regressive politics. Yet we still know relatively little about these more recent dynamics, making further empirical research essential.
In line with the dual focus on backlash and backsliding, the panel is interested not only in how movements defend existing democratic rights, but also in how they expand democratic inclusion and construct alternative participatory spaces under conditions of institutional closure.
Methodologically, it embraces pluralism. Contributions may draw on quantitative approaches, including protest surveys and event data, as well as qualitative research based on semi-structured interviews, ethnography, documentary analysis, and other interpretive methods. By bringing together different cases and methods, we aim to assess both the capacities and limits of social movements as forces of democratic resilience.