The Evolution of Spanish Contention: A Longitudinal Analysis of Social Movements and Protest, 2000-2020’ (ECOPOL) brings together a dozen researchers devoted to the study of social movements and protest in 21st century Spain. ECOPOL is a research project funded by the Agencia Estatal de Investigación.

ECOPOL aims to contribute to filling a gap in the literature on social movements through a longitudinal analysis of contention in contemporary Spain that helps us to clarify the contrasts and identify medium- and long-term dynamics and geographical differences that tend to be overlooked in case studies. The main goal of the proposal is to achieve a better understanding of the evolution of contentious politics in Spain between 2000 and 2020. This objective is broken down into other, more specific goals focused on the analysis of protest cycles and their phases, the interaction between social movement activists and political authorities, the relationship between social movements and the political economy, the realms and scales of protest, the movement/contramovement dynamics and the spatial distribution of protest.

The achievement of these research goals is approached from the methodological triangulation between different techniques, mainly protest event analysis (PEA), which includes both longitudinal and spatial analysis; the in-depth analysis of qualitative interviews; and the analysis of secondary data.

ECOPOL will run for four years, between 2020 and 2024.