Role
Cristiano Bee is a Senior Lecturer in Politics. Previously he was an Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science and Public Administration of Kadir Has University in Istanbul, a Marie Curie Fellow at the European Institute of Istanbul Bilgi University and a Lecturer in Public Policy at the University of Surrey. His area of expertise focuses on civil society studies, with a particular interest in the activities of social NGOs operating at the EU level but also in a number of countries (such as the UK, Italy, and Turkey).
Teaching and supervision
Modules taught
- Global Civil Society
- Researching Politics and International Relations 2: Methods (Co-taught)
- Politics in Comparative Perspective (Co-taught)
Publications
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Journal articles
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Capelos T, Chrona S, Salmela M, Bee C, 'Reactionary Politics and Resentful Affect in Populist Times'
Politics and Governance 9 (3) (2021) pp.186-190
eISSN: 2183-2463AbstractPublished hereThis thematic issue brings together ten articles from political psychology, political sociology, philosophy, history, public policy, media studies, and electoral studies, which examine reactionary politics and resentful affect in populist times.
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Bee C, 'The civic and political participation of young people in a context of heightened authoritarianism. The case of Turkey'
Journal of Youth Studies 24 (1) (2021) pp.40-61
ISSN: 1367-6261 eISSN: 1469-9680AbstractPublished here Open Access on RADARApplying insights from research on civic and political participation, this study focuses on the effects that the recent authoritarian turn taken by Turkey had on the expression of participatory behaviours by young people. The analysis brings about a number of contentious issues and intertwines two recent dynamics. First of all recent events (such as the protests associated with the occupygezi movement) show that youth in Turkey are extremely important players and political actors. Secondly, however, the authoritarian turn taken by the country under the AKP’s governance resulted in serious and alarming limitations to the exercise of basic freedoms and hence participatory behaviours. Based on the results of 40 semi-structured interviews with young people involved in civil society organisations, the article discusses three aspects: young people’s views of active citizenship; the instruments of empowerment that stimulate participatory behaviours and the significance attributed to different means of civic and political participation. The analysis reveals the complexity of active citizenship in a context of heightened authoritarianism and underlines the constraints put on the exercise of civic and political participation by the current government. It also unpacks the alarming consequences of the AKP agenda on the expression of freedoms, with a particular focus on the repression of participatory behaviours.
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Bee C, Chrona S, 'Austerity and fragmentation: Dynamics of Europeanization of media discourses in Greece and Italy'
Communications: The European Journal of Communication Research 45 (s1) (2020)
ISSN: 0341-2059 eISSN: 1613-4087AbstractPublished hereThis article investigates media representations of the European financial crisis in Greece and Italy. We study the Euro crisis as an 'emergency situation' with domino effects, where media played a central role in shaping communication practices at the national level as well as between the two countries. Drawing upon vertical and horizontal dynamics of Europeanization, we map the convergences and divergences in media discourses that surround the period 2011-2015. In doing so, we elaborate a qualitative analysis of newspaper articles focusing, in particular, on the themes of austerity and the fragmentation of Europe. Our argument suggests that national public spheres in times of transnational crisis become increasingly nationalized; yet under certain circumstances such as when the supranational infrastructure is the target of blame, they converge, opening the path toward a transnational discursive dialogue.
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Bee C, Chrona S, 'Right to public space and right to democracy: The role of social media in Gezi Park'
Research and Policy on Turkey 2 (1) (2017) pp.49-61
ISSN: 2376-0818 eISSN: 2376-0826AbstractGezi Park represents a unique example of a mobilization process focused on the right to public space and democracy in Turkey, where forms of bottom up active citizenship have emerged in order to bring forward demands for environmental and social justice. This paper is focused on the role of social media in triggering the protests and in establishing these two central frames. By conducting a discourse analysis of social media content, we provide an overview of the principal narratives that emerged during the days of the Gezi movement. Our article is centrally focused on the adoption of a connective action framework. We argue that social media in occupygezi played the role of mobilizing agent that brought together a heterogeneous mix of participants and offered the chance to personalize the individual grievances that were expressed and promoted by the participants.Published here -
Bee C, Chrona S, 'Youth activists and occupygezi: patterns of social change in public policy and in civic and political activism in Turkey'
Turkish Studies 18 (1) (2017) pp.157-181
ISSN: 1468-3849 eISSN: 1743-9663AbstractThe research puzzle that our paper focuses on is the struggle of youth organizations to have their voice heard in public policy processes. We examine the implications of occupygezi in establishing, or not, a new relationship with the political domain and policy makers in Turkey. By drawing on a policy analysis framework, this paper looks at whether occupygezi opened up new windows of opportunities for social and political change for youth activists in Turkey. In doing so, we rely upon the results of a number of in-depth interviews conducted in 2015/16 in Turkey with representatives of youth organizations.Published here -
Bee C, Kaya A, 'Between practices and demands: ambiguities, controversies and constraints in the emergence of active citizenship in Turkey'
Southeast European and Black Sea Studies 17 (3) (2017) pp.301-324
ISSN: 1468-3857 eISSN: 1743-9639AbstractThis article discusses the emergence of active citizenship in Turkey in the light of two working definitions that provide different outcomes in terms of research objectives and aims. On the one side, we define active citizenship as a practice stimulated by public institutions through public policy with the aim of promoting civic and political engagement in order to shape participatory policy processes and ultimately improve the democratic bases of policy-making. On the other side, we define active citizenship as a demand, which becomes particularly important where the civil society expresses certain claims through different means using both traditional and alternative channels of mobilization. In our discussion, we have examined different macro-processes and macro-events that have been key in bringing about different formulations of active citizenship. Using a case study method – where we overview different contextual elements/dynamics that bring to the fore various elements of civic and political engagement and civic and political participation during the past 15 years – we argue that, in a context where the expression of active citizenship is volatile and constrained, further research should take into account different top-down and bottom-up dynamics that bring about different challenges for the study of this subject in Turkey.Published here -
Bee C, Kaya A, 'Youth and active citizenship in Turkey: engagement, participation and emancipation'
Southeast European and Black Sea Studies 17 (1) (2016) pp.129-143
ISSN: 1468-3857 eISSN: 1743-9639AbstractThis article critically discusses the establishment of active citizenship in Turkey with a specific focus on young people. In particular, we concentrate on the emergence of different strategies regarding civic and political participation in Turkey, by looking at their relationship with civic and political engagement. The scope is to focus on the influence that various factors have in determining patterns of participation. The research and relative results are based on the narratives inherent to two opposite scenarios – that we defined constraints to engagement and participation and patterns of emancipation – that emerged during the interviews with youth activists of NGOs in Turkey.Published here -
Bee C, Clarke C, 'Examining the Success of the European Capital of Culture in Sustaining the Cultural Foundations of the European Identity: An Analysis of Media Representations and Journalists’ Views on Liverpool 2008'
Journal of Contemporary European Studies 11 (2) (2015) pp.212-229
ISSN: 1478-2804 eISSN: 1478-2790Abstracthttps://www.jcer.net/index.php/jcer/article/view/637
This article examines the European Capital of Culture programme in relation to its success in sustaining a sense of European cultural identity. This is done by examining the case study of Liverpool 2008. The study is conducted by combining a discourse analysis of a sample of articles of four British newspapers (two regional newspapers and two national newspapers) published in 2008 with interviews conducted with eight journalists in 2012. This research argues that the European Capital of Culture programme is a way in which a city can adopt a sustainable European cultural identity. There are a number of cultural factors that lead to this; some of the most prominent include visual discourse, the degree to which the community embraces the programme, the creation of desirable venues and the adoption of long-term cultural activities, festivals and schools. The analysis underlines that the city of Liverpool still adopts a cultural identity closely associated with the EU programme. -
Bee C, 'Transnationalisation, Public Communication and Active Citizenship. The Emergence of a Fragmented and Fluid European Public Sphere'
Sociology Compass 8 (8) (2014) pp.1018-1032
ISSN: 1751-9020 eISSN: 1751-9020AbstractThis paper is focused on the emergence of the European public sphere debate. This discussion has become more and more prominent between scholars of European Studies who have given it both normative and empirical attention. This is due to a variety of reasons, but in particular the increase in research about the legitimacy of European integration, which has been the subject of a wide debate since at least the beginning of the 1990s. Firstly, the article critically assesses the normative arguments that have supported the development of the European public sphere, by focusing on the social, political and cultural dimensions of European integration. After having assessed this debate and underlined current challenges emerged in light of recent events (such as the euro‐crisis, the rise of euroscepticism and the rise in far right movements), the article then introduces the empirical research on the europeanisation of the public sphere, by looking at the development of an agenda that has more and more concentrated on the fragmentation and fluidity of such construct. This discussion is key to introduce the final part of the article, which focuses on the role of civil society in the broader European constituency and in the public sphere. The article highlights some of the ambiguities inherent to the current research agenda, by calling for a more comprehensive approach to study active citizenship in Europe that departs from a consideration of the NGOs activists as the main locus of analysis.Published here -
Bee C, Pachi D, 'Active Citizenship in the UK: Assessing Institutional Political Strategies and Mechanisms of Civic Engagement'
Journal of Civil Society 10 (1) (2014) pp.117-
ISSN: 1744-8689 eISSN: 1744-8697AbstractShaping active citizenship, motivating civic engagement, and increasing political participation of minority groups have become some of the key political priorities in the UK since at least the end of the 1980s. Academic research shows that this shift goes hand-in-hand with a review of the integration policies in the country. The ‘politics of integration’ correspond in fact to a policy response to various social problems (such as discrimination, racism, intolerance) that emerged in various areas, and represent a new political discourse regarding active citizenship. This reflects an overall strategy meant to reframe the basis for civic and political engagement and participation in Britain. Our article is thus meant to highlight the dynamics underlying the development of the concept of active citizenship in the UK by looking at the factors that intervene in its shaping and enhancement. We identify political priorities and key mechanisms of participation that enable engagement in the public sphere. This article first considers the development of the specific ‘British discourse’ regarding active citizenship by taking into consideration the political priorities that emerged as part of the New Right discourse in the 1980s and then New Labour after 1997. We then refer to a set of data collected during our field work conducted in the UK between 2010 and 2011 with civil society activists and policy-makers in order to underline the meaning, practices, and feasibility of active citizenship.Published here -
Bee C, Guerrina R, 'Participation, Dialogue, and Civic Engagement: Understanding the Role of Organized Civil Society in Promoting Active Citizenship in the European Union'
Journal of Civil Society 10 (1) (2014) pp.29-50
ISSN: 1744-8689 eISSN: 1744-8697AbstractThis article looks at current policies concerning the civic and political participation of youths, women, migrants, and minorities in the European Union. It highlights the ways in which active citizenship and civic engagement have become a political priority for European institutions. Representation of local policy actors at the supranational level and strategies for the inclusion of civil society provide a platform for evaluating the impact of Europeanization at the national and subnational level. The article focuses on key discourses and narratives associated with specific policy frames (e.g. European citizenship, European social policies, and the European public sphere (EPS)). Some of the key questions addressed by the article are: What are the strategies that are employed, both by the European institutions in Brussels and organized civil society (OCS), to enhance participation and reciprocal communication? What vision of governance do practices such as active engagement and civil dialogue represent? Drawing on current theories of governance, our article contributes to the debate about the EPS by evaluating the role of OCS in bridging the gap between European institutions and national polities. Equally, our focus on traditionally marginal groups provides a platform for assessing the institutionalization of the ‘European social dimension’.Published here
Books
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Bee C, Active Citizenship in Europe. Practices and Demands in the EU, Italy, Turkey and the UK, Palgrave (Series: Palgrave Studies in European Political Sociology) (2017)
ISBN: 9781137453167 eISBN: 9781137453174AbstractThe book provides an overview of key issues in the debate concerning the emergence of active citizenship in Europe. The specific focus of enquiry is the promotion of patterns of civic and political engagement and civic and political participation by the EU and the relative responses drawn by organizations of the civil society operating at the supranational level and in Italy, Turkey and the UK. More specifically, it addresses key debates on the engagement and participation of organized civil society across the permanent state of euro-crisis, considering the production of policy discourses along the continuum that characterized three subsequent and interrelated emergency situations (democratic, financial and migration crises) that have hit Europe since 2005. Active Citizenship in Europe will be of interest to students and scholars in a range of fields, including sociology, politics, European studies and international studies. -- Supplied by publisher.Published here