Municipal progressive networks: Networking and commoning urban politics to democratize democracy—Evidence from two Italian cities

Abstract

This article examines how municipalist coalitions connecting urban social movements, civic platforms, and outsider leaders in the 2010s have contributed to the democratization of local politics. Research on New Municipalism has approached these experiences either through institutional democratic innovation or through a focus on the co-optation of urban social movements as they enter formal politics. Less attention has been paid to how the ideological-organizational nexus shapes different directions of democratization. The article develops the Municipal Progressive Networks (MPN) model to conceptualize these dynamics. MPNs emerge through two interrelated processes, networking and commoning, operating both from outside the network and from within the network outwards onto urban politics; their combination is critical for ascertaining different effects on democratization. The model is empirically developed through multiple case studies of two Italian cities, Naples and Latina, which saw the emergence, consolidation, and decline of MPNs. The findings indicate how stronger progressive orientations foster disruptive commoning, while weaker ones hamper MPN’s transformative potentialities. In both cases, limited systematization of networks constrains durability, exposing them to co-optation or decline. Ultimately, the article advances understanding of how urban movements in the 2010s navigated the tension between fostering transformative coalitions and the risk of institutional co-optation.