Using radical theories of democracy, Emmy Eklundh masterfully tackles this problem and constructs an analytical framework based on the concept of visceral ties, which sees emotions and affect as constitutive of any collective identity. She later demonstrates empirically, using both ethnographic method and social media analysis, how the movement Indignados is different from the political party Podemos with regards to emotions and affect, but that both are suffering from a broader devaluation of emotional expressions in political life.
Bridging social and political theory, Emotions, Protest, Democracy: Collective Identities in Contemporary Spain provides one of the few in-depth accounts of the transition from the movement Indignados to party Podemos, and the role of emotions in contemporary Spanish and European politics.
Emmy Eklundh is a Lecturer in Spanish and International Politics at King’s College London. Her research is mainly centred on the post-crisis eruptions of protest in Southern Europe and challenges to the European democratic order. Current research projects include the rise (or return) of left- and right-wing populist movements and parties in Europe.