Given the focus on the challenges to representative democracy and the search for new institutions and procedures to help increase participation, this book offers empirical insights on alternative conceptions of democracy and the actors that promote them.

Donatella Della Porta is professor of sociology in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the European University Institute, Italy.

1. Why Research Democracy and the European Social Forum? An Introduction Donatella della Porta 2. The ESF Organizational Process in a Diachronic Perspective Nicolas Haering, Cristopher Haug and Lorenzo Mosca 3. Communicating the Forum Lorenzo Mosca, Dieter Rucht, Simon Teune and Sara Lopez Martin 4. Models of Democracy: how Activists see Democracy in the Movement Massimiliano Andretta and Donatella della Porta 5. Democracy from Below: Activists and Institutions Donatella della Porta and Marco Giugni 6. The Socio-Demography of Global Activism Massimiliano Andretta, Marko Bandler, Nicolas Haeringer, Ilhame Hajji, Manuel Jiménez and Isabelle Sommier 7. The European Social Forum and the Organizational Dimension Clare Saunders, Massimiliano Andretta, Nicolas Haeringer, Ilhame Hajji, and Isabelle Sommier 8. How Deliberative Democracy (net)Works Massimiliano Andretta, Iosif Botetzagias, Moses Boudourides, Olga Kioufegi, and Mundo Yang 9. Protest and the Forum Marco Giugni, Alessandro Nai, and Herbert Reiter 10. The European Left and the ESF Massimiliano Andretta and Herbert Reiter 11. Conclusion Donatella della Porta