„Protests, Social Movements and Activism

Applied Politics Summer School (APSS) is based on the initiative of a group of SNSPA`s students of the Political Sciences and International Relations Faculty, members of the Political Ideas` Studies Center (CeSIP). We aim to make APSS an annual event, meant to become, later on, a landmark in the domain.
Through this project, we intend to analyze and debate relevant political science and international relations matters/issues/topics (relevant matters of the realm of/in the area of political sciences and international relations), within modules, courses and workshops.
The first edition of APSS will be held under the name „Protests, Social Movements and Activism”. Having in mind the recent events in Albania, Hungary and France, we could say that social movements have grown, both in number and amplitude during last year’s final months, showing that grassroots movements in Europe are not a particularity of the past. Our summer school aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the contemporary social movements in Europe and in the rest of the world.
We wish to approach the main research directions in the social movements and political activism domains, and answer at the same time to these questions:

Can social movements trigger similar events in other countries? If so, how can we trace and identify this interdependency?
Are there similarities between the movements in Europe?
Are there any preconditions that can usher in this phenomenon?
What are the consequences of social movements nowadays?
How does technology affect social movements?
What do the new social movements look like?
To what extent can protests signal certain types of dysfunctionalities in the democratic regimes?

Target group

Bachelor and Master degree students from all the European Universities interested in Political Science and International Relations.

Course aim

We expect that at the end of this edition, every participant will be able to understand the characteristics of these new social movements and protests while also obtaining the means of thoroughly analyzing them. At the same time, the activities are meant to support those who really want to deepen his/her knowledge on this subject. Last but not least, we intend to uphold socialization and to create a network which can be used in future events on this matter.