Vassallo, M.T., Cachia, J.C. & DeBattista A.P., How civil society organizations brought change to the Maltese government between 2019 and 2020, in Briguglio L., Briguglio M., Bunwaree S. & Slatter C. (Eds.) Handbook of Civil Society and Social Movements in Small States, Oxford: Routledge, 2023, pp. 288 – 301
Civil society organizations (CSOs) are often considered to be transformationalists and they are likely to adopt an antagonist attitude towards the governing elites in their quest for organizations. This paper is a book chapter in the Handbook of Civil Society and Social Movements in Small States (edited by Lino Briguglio, Michael Briguglio, Sheila Bunwaree, and Claire Slatter).
The study is contextualized within the intensive saga of events that developed in Malta from late 2019 to early 2020, mainly calling for the resignation of top government officials after a series of alleged political/business collusions that led to the assassination of the journalist and blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia. In an unprecedented occurrence, CSOs rooted in right- and left-wing politics came together to protest against institutional corruption. Weeks of demonstrations morphed into a national political crisis that had widespread ramifications at the European level, and the crisis is said to have led to the resignation of the Maltese prime minister, raising concerns about the impact that this could have on the European Union. The chapter intends to map out the strategies and actions coordinated by CSOs during this period. From a methodological perspective, the study rests on two streams of data: the first featuring content analysis resulting from news coverage, and the second comprising narratives from the leaders of CSOs who were at the forefront of the protest movement.
Online link to paper:
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