Winds of Change, or Fighting the Windmills: Exploring the Economic Visions of the Pan-European Movement DiEM25

Abstract

The Democracy in Europe Movement (DiEM25) entered European politics in 2016 as a progressive, left, cosmopolitan, pan-European reaction to the post-crisis austerity politics adopted by the EU. In terms of core ideas, the movement challenges the contemporary neoliberal status quo and links it to the various crises at hand. While the movement has been thoroughly analyzed in terms of its populist and transnational dimensions, insufficient attention has been paid to its economic visions and critique. The exploration of DiEM’s creative inputs concerning European integration and proposed solutions of contemporary challenges contributes to the discussion of a post-crisis development of neoliberalism, broadens the understanding of critique on the current form of European integration, and sheds more light on DiEM’s core ideas, goals, and future trajectories. This chapter explores DiEM’s economic visions and critiques through a qualitative exploration of official documents and participants’ perspectives. Thus, it captures the official positions and the dynamic, continuously negotiated ideas that the movement formulates and politicizes. This approach reveals that the movement faces clashes between the various discourses it mobilizes (progressivism, left-wing, radical, humanist, pragmatic) and encounters tensions between various levels upon which it operates (local, national, transnational, elite, participant).