Past Research Projects

Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong

2015-16. Miguel A. Martínez: Principal Investigator. Multi-Dimensional Outcomes of Occupy Movements: A Comparison between Hong Kong and Madrid. Start-Up Grant, City University of Hong Kong.

Occupy-like social movements have emerged in different cities and countries since 2011. One of their common features is an extraordinary occupation of public spaces in connection to broader organisations, movements and claims. Social movements’ scholars have widely debated about the consequences of movements in terms of: a) intended and unintended consequences; b) institutional and non-institutional effects. This study aims at knowing deeply these four types of social and political consequences of two occupy-like movements in a life-span of three years after the initial occupations: the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong (2014-2017) and the 15-M movement in Madrid (2011-2014). The selection of the two cases is based on their similarities (global cities, long duration of the camps, claims for “true democracy”, etc.) and significant differences (political culture, social structures, etc.). A multi-dimensional model of social movements’ outcomes is proposed and will be tested in the explanatory comparison of both cases.

Key Objectives

1. To distinguish the political demands expressed by the different participants and organisations involved in both the Umbrella Movement and the 15M Movement.
2. To test and verify a multi-dimensional model of outcomes of social movements and the appropriate indicators, in the cases of the Umbrella Movement and the 15M Movement.
3. To determine to what extent the occupations of public space have produced new collective identities and a substantial shift in the political cycle.
4. To examine the similarities and differences between the Umbrella Movement and the 15M Movement.
5. To discover the continuities and discontinuities between these social movements and former and subsequent ones in the same cities.
6. To know how influential is the context of both global cities (Hong Kong and Madrid) in the development of the respective movements.
7. To correlate the social conditions of participants in both movements with their particular practices of political engagement.

Results

Martínez, Miguel A. (2022) Paraguas amarillos a la sombra de China: el movimiento por la democracia en Hong Kong. In Gomer Betancor & Adriana Razquin (Eds.), Diez años construyendo ciudadanía en movimiento(s). El 15M y otras luchas hermanas. Barcelona: Bellaterra, pp. 203-212.

Martínez, Miguel A. (2020). Street Occupations, Neglected Democracy, and Contested Neoliberalism in Hong Kong. Social Justice 46(2/3): 101-124.

Martínez, Miguel A. & San Juan, Elena (2020). Just rekindle hope? Social and political impacts of the 15M movement in Spain. Estudios de la Paz y el Conflicto, Revista Latinoamericana 1(1): 13-38.

Martínez, Miguel A. (2016) Between autonomy and hybridity: urban struggles within the 15m movement in Madrid. In Margit Mayer, Catharina Thörn and Håkan Thörn (eds.) Urban Uprisings: Challenging the neoliberal city in Europe. London: Palgrave Macmillan-Springer, pp. 253-281.

Full document

Published: 23 February 2015
Keywords: Research project