Mobilization Winter Update

Social Movement Scholar,

Welcome to the latest Mobilization update.

We are thrilled to announce our new special issue, “Weaving the Transnational Anti-Gender Networks,” edited by Manuela Caiani and Ivan Tranfić, is now online. This collection examines how anti-gender movements build transnational networks and leverage religious resources across borders, offering fresh insights into their organizational strategies and impact.

We've also got updates about our 2025 conference. With democracy under pressure worldwide, we think it's time for a focused conversation about how movements are responding to these challenges.

As an independent publication, Mobilization has maintained affordable subscription rates for over a decade. Your subscription includes four print issues annually, complete online access to our research archive, and the knowledge that you're supporting sustainable, independent scholarship in social movement studies. We invite you to join or renew your subscription today to help ensure our shared intellectual community continues to thrive.

Special Issue: Weaving the Transnational Anti-Gender Networks

We are pleased to publish this special issue of Mobilization on "Weaving the Transnational Anti-Gender Networks," guest edited by Manuela Caiani and Ivan Tranfić, which analyzes how anti-gender movements build transnational networks and leverage religious resources and conservative familial identity politics across borders.

Weaving the Transnational Anti-Gender Networks Manuela Caiani and Ivan Tranfić. In their introduction, Caiani and Tranfić outline the conceptual framework for understanding illiberal transnationalization while examining how anti-gender actors use institutions, discourses, and digital technologies to build cross-border alliances and influence. They argue that anti-gender movements have successfully mobilized around “gender ideology” and “natural family” frames to create powerful transnational networks that connect religious organizations, far-right parties, and conservative NGOs across Europe and beyond. Read the open-access article.

Assembling God's “Last Best Hope”: The Expanding Reach of the World Congress of Families Kristopher Velasco and Jeffrey Swindle. Analyzing World Congress of Families conference data, Velasco and Swindle reveal how the organization functions as a network of networks, with member groups maintaining local influence while contributing to a broader transnational movement against “gender ideology.” Read the article.

Anti-Gender Regimes, Feminist Politics, and the Challenge of Societal Democratization Emanuela Lombardo. Lombardo applies gender regime theory to analyze how anti-gender politics operates across societal domains to challenge democratization and advance authoritarian projects. Her framework helps scholars understand the broader social logics of anti-gender politics and its fundamental opposition to democratic society. Read the article.

Virtual Brokers and National Boundaries: Transnational Online Networks in European Anti-Gender Movements Dominika Tronina. Studying Twitter networks among 148 anti-gender organizations, Tronina shows how broker organizations enable transnational coordination while preserving national focus, demonstrating how digital technologies facilitate flexible cross-border alliances. Read the article.

Capitalizing on COVID-19: Crisis Exploitation in the Christian Right's International Campaign for Family Values Martijn Mos. Mos examines how transnational Christian right organizations strategically adapted to and exploited the COVID-19 pandemic to advance their existing agendas, using "frame extension" to transform what initially appeared to be a threat to their advocacy into an opportunity. Read the article.

The Making of a Translocal Anti-Gender Alliance and Hope for Progressive Change Ipek Demirsu. Drawing on extensive fieldwork in Verona, Italy, Demirsu reveals how religious right, far-right, and populist actors built powerful local-transnational alliances culminating in the 2019 World Congress of Families, while demonstrating how progressive grassroots organizing later succeeded in challenging these networks. Read the article.

Anti-Gender Civilizationism and the West-East Divide: The Case of the World Congress of Families Katja Kahlina. Kahlina's analysis reveals how transnational anti-gender movements strategically reframe Central and Eastern European "pro-family" politics as civilizational leadership, challenging conventional post-Cold War power dynamics through World Congress of Families platforms. Read the article.

Who's the Real Feminist? Feminist Discursive Boundary Making in the Context of Anti-Gender Campaigns Kerstin Jacobsson, Eva Karlberg, Elżbieta Korolczuk, and Anna Meeuwisse. Through analysis of feminist responses to anti-gender mobilization in Italy and Sweden, Jacobsson and colleagues demonstrate how boundary-making processes challenge static divisions between progressive and conservative actors, revealing the dynamic nature of movement boundaries. Read the article.