In the US, a new coalition of progressive forces is shaping up to protest views and policies deployed by president Trump. The articulation of forces against Trump. The municipal level is becoming a space for social resistance and political innovation, hence providing an opportunity for...

For centuries, workers have organized themselves in order to collectively resist the oppressive and exploitative forces of capital. From the early 1900s to the current day, the most common form of worker organizing has been the labor union. With the rise of urbanization, over half...

Over recent years there’s been a surge in European cities that, via public tendering, are using their spending power far more pro-actively and strategically to promote social justice and environmental goals. Leading this trend are city governments that define themselves as municipalist and are committed...

Energy sovereignty – which is based on the highest level of democracy – means to listen to, give voice to, empower, meaningfully engage with, and encourage voting by the largest number of people possible. They must have the democratic power to decide what kind of...

The City of Tshwane, home to South Africa’s government and foreign diplomats, has been rocked by political turmoil for nearly a year. Coalition arrangements were first made after the 2016 municipal elections which finally collapsed earlier this year. This jockeying for power by the parties...

Gianpaolo Baiocchi offers a historical overview of what he terms Radical Cities in Latin America and draws out some lessons from the past 30 years. Comparing these experiences to municipal politics in Europe and  elsewhere, he highlights the distinctive features and charts the ups and...

Remunicipalisation, i.e. the taking back of privatised assets and services into public ownership at a local level, is growing. Over 1,400 cases have been implemented since the turn of the millennium, in more than 2,400 cities across 58 countries. The article depicts different cases of...

The cities of Barcelona, Freetown, Mexico, London, Los Angeles and Tokyo have co-founded a network focused on gender equity, with mayors warning that the Covid-19 pandemic risks widening inequalities. Through ‘CHANGE’ (City Hub and Network for Gender Equity), the cities will share best practices, policies...

The way that reality is laid out for us at the moment it might seem a bit defeated and hopeless. Reviewing some of the accomplishments and origins of municipalism shines a light on what according to Murray Bookchin pointed out can be a way to...

This article identifies three new municipalisms – platform, autonomist, managed – whose characteristics, contradictions, interconnections and potentials are explored in terms of state-space restructuring, urban-capitalist crisis and cycles of contention. Photo: Sharon McCutcheo

In 2015, a new cycle of struggles for democratic governance unfolded at the level of the city. One such municipal movement and platform is Barcelona en Comú. Pioneering new ways and words for approaching the city as common(s), Barcelona en Comú opens possibilities for a...

Left-wing populism and the feminization of politics are at the core of the debates among activists of the European left. The intellectual basis of while left-wing populism make it incompatible with the feminization of politics, since they reinforce patriarchy. Social transformation requires of a genuine...