New forms of collective action and local government: from 15-M to the Ahora Madrid government

Resumen

Since 2011 new social organizations emerged in Madrid whose main objective was the fight against increasing poverty and inequality produced by the implementation of structural adjustment policies. The chapter analyses a series of citizen initiatives along three axes (employment, citizen participation and provision of resources), focusing on their capacity to generate new ways of relating to institutions, in a context characterized by a neoliberal urban governance model. After the May 2015 local elections, the citizen platform Ahora Madrid took over the city government and remained until 2019. Given the strong link between Ahora Madrid and the 15-M movement and its government programme, a major expectation for change was created. However, after four years, the urban governance model did not change significantly. Government action adopted a depoliticising approach, meaning a break with the Ahora Madrid roots born from a democratising and re-politicising boots.