Skip to main content

Davide Gnes

University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research, PhD Candidate

Followers

53

Following

44

Co-authors

14

Public Views

Davide Gnes is a post-doctoral researcher at ACELG in the context of the project “Separation of Powers for 21st Century Europe” (SepaRope), which aims to examine the theory and practice of separation of powers in the European Union. Within SepaRope, Davide's research explores the institutional dynamics shaping EU governance, policy and law in the field of migration.

Davide holds a PhD in political science (2018) from the University of Amsterdam. His doctoral research examined coalition-building, organizational strategies and legitimacy amongst migrant advocacy organizations in Los Angeles, California. Davide also obtained an Erasmus Mundus MSc in International Migration and Social Cohesion (Universities of Amsterdam, Bilbao, Lima and Riga) and an MA in International Relations and BA in Political Science, both from the University of Pavia, Italy.

Prior to this position, Davide was a policy advisor on EU migration and development policy in Brussels. He also worked and interned for a number of other NGOs in Jordan, Spain and Denmark on issues related to migration and international development.

less

Tampere University

Tampere University

Université Paris 1 - Panthéon-Sorbonne

Elena Vacchelli

Middlesex University

Coppieters Foundation

valentine berthet

Isabelle Ioannides

Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP)

InterestsView All (20)

Uploads

Calls for Papers by Davide Gnes

Call for contributions «Per un Atlante delle Realtà [R]esistenti. La riappropriazione dello spazio in Italia» su WOTS Magazine

by Stefano Piemontese, Elisabetta Rosa, Davide Cirillo, Tina Magazzini, Cecilia Vergnano, Kitti Baracsi, Fabrizio Latrofa, Davide Gnes, Marianna Manca, Chiara Manzoni, and Paul Schweizer

Gli ultimi anni hanno visto il moltiplicarsi di diverse forme di resistenza nei territori e nelle... more

Call for Short Documentaries (2016)

by Celine Cantat, Tina Magazzini, Stefano Piemontese, Davide Gnes, and Julius-Cezar MacQuarie

Conference "International Migration Integration and Social Justice in Europe" Final INTEGRIM-SCRI... more

Papers by Davide Gnes

Organizational Legitimacy Beyond Ethnicity? The Case of Kiwa and the Struggle for the Rights of Immigrant Low-Wage Workers

The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union's Seventh Fram... more The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° 316796" 'community' they claim to represent? I here build on a theory of legitimacy that emphasizes the desirability and appropriateness of organizational actions within a specific normative context. I further distinguish between cognitive legitimacy, which refers to the act of building legitimacy through the support of an internal constituency, and socio-political legitimacy, which refers to the acceptance of the organization within a wider institutional context. Moreover, I analyze the first in relation to the ideological background of the organization and in relation to the resources that its community of reference is able to provide; I analyze the second in relation to the shifting network of support and multi-organizational field in which the organization is embedded. Drawing on organizational archives and qualitative interviews, this study focuses on the history of the Korean Immigrant Workers Alliance (KIWA), a non-profit immigrant organization based in Los Angeles. The case of KIWA, an organization established within an ethnic enclave that adopted an explicitly crossethnic agenda, is particularly suitable to shed a light on the constraints and opportunities that shape the discourse and practice of immigrant non-profit organizations. Specifically, I first describe how KIWA was able to construct its multiethnic constituency by redefining traditional ethnic allegiances within the Korean community, as well as by emphasizing commonalities on the basis of shared class consciousness and racial oppression with other ethnic groups. Second, I emphasize how the development of KIWA's network of relations, particularly with progressive labor unions, advocacy organizations and immigrant rights groups, impacted KIWA's activities by steering them in the direction of workplace issues and multiethnic alliances. KIWA's embeddedness in such a network provided an organizational space where shared practices, ideas and strategies kept the organization firmly anchored within the labor and the social and economic justice movement.

Legitimacy as the Basis for Organizational Development of Voluntary Organizations

Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research, 2018

In the analysis of voluntary organizations, legitimacy and legitimation are useful concepts becau... more In the analysis of voluntary organizations, legitimacy and legitimation are useful concepts because they bring to light the process through which organizational entities justify their right to exist and their actions within a particular normative context (Maurer 1971; Meyer and Scott 1983; Beetham 2013). Theories of legitimacy underscore the moral basis of organizational power as grounded in the relationship between organizations and different kinds of audiences. In this chapter, we look at how those concepts and theories relate to the study of voluntary organizations. Those theories not only help us understand how voluntary organizations establish themselves, strengthen their position and survive over time despite very limited material resources of their own, but also how different organizational claims can directly impact communities, either by publicly projecting particular conceptions of community or by articulating specific interests and needs on behalf of its members In our review of the literature on organizational legitimacy, we focus on three main aspects of legitimacy: conceptualization of the term in organizational sociology, political sociology and studies of non-profit organizations; the constraining role of institutionalized normative contexts and competing audiences in the legitimation processes; the agentic role of organizations within both institutional and strategic contexts.

Organisational legitimacy beyond ethnicity? Shifting organisational logics in the struggle for immigrant rights in Los Angeles

Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 2016

Immigrant political organisations in the United States have traditionally built political power b... more Immigrant political organisations in the United States have traditionally built political power by claiming to legitimately represent an ethnically defined group. However, the emergence of a number of multi-ethnic, class-based organisations over the last two decades has challenged this assumption, while raising questions about the ability of the institutional context to accommodate organisational change. Building on a neo-institutional theory of legitimacy, I examine the diverging legitimating strategies employed by two long-standing immigrant organisations based in Los Angeles (LA): the Korean Resource Center (KRC) and the Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance (KIWA). Through grant applications, organisational archival data and qualitative interviews, I show how KRC and KIWA, two groups embedded in the same sociopolitical context, have built unique yet equally successful legitimating accounts by adopting different organisational logics, one broadly based on ethnicity and one on class and multi-ethnicity. I suggest that KIWA and KRC's ideological differences, and their reliance on a different core of supportersethnic-oriented for KRC, labour-oriented for KIWAdrove the organisations towards distinct, yet partially overlapping subfields. By discursively mobilising those connections, and by actively shaping the surrounding organisational environment, both KRC and KIWA were able to incorporate in the broader non-profit advocacy sector in LA.

Non-Governmental Organisations and Legitimacy: Authority, Power and Resources

Journal of Migration History, 2019

In the analysis of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), legitimacy and legitimation are useful ... more In the analysis of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), legitimacy and legitimation are useful concepts because they bring to light the processes through which organisational entities justify their right to exist and their actions within a particular normative context. Theories of legitimacy underscore the moral basis of organisational power as grounded in the relationship between organisations and different kinds of audiences. In this article, we look at how those concepts and theories relate to the study of NGOs. Those theories not only help us understand how organisations establish themselves, strengthen their position and survive over time despite very limited material resources of their own, but also how organisations may build political power. In our review of the literature on organisational legitimacy, we focus on three main aspects of legitimacy: the conceptualisation of the term in organisational sociology, political sociology and political science; the constraining role...

Chant Down the Walls: Exploring the Potential of Video Methods in the Study of Immigrant Politics and Social Movements

IMISCOE Research Series

In this chapter I draw on my fieldwork experience in Los Angeles to discuss the potential of vide... more In this chapter I draw on my fieldwork experience in Los Angeles to discuss the potential of video for qualitative research on migration and political action. I focus specifically on three aspects: access to the field, research respondents and data; video and the study of micro-social interaction; video as a tool to generate new insights and data. I argue that video has facilitated, enriched and expanded my understanding of migrant political action in several ways, some of which were entirely unexpected at the beginning of this research. Within the field of migration studies, video appears particularly suitable to research the terrain of politics and culture, since it provides the means to study a key social aspect that is difficult to investigate in detail only with other types of methods: interaction. Hence, video as both a tool and a method proved a useful complement to interviews, artefacts and archive documentation.

Local Path Dependency and Scale Shift in Social Movements: The Case of the Us Immigrant Rights Movement

Geographical Review

Local Path Dependency and Scale Shift in Social Movements: The Case of the Us Immigrant Rights Movement

by Walter Nicholls and Davide Gnes

Geographical Review

Local Path Dependency and Scale Shift in Social Movements: The Case of the Us Immigrant Rights Movement

Geographical Review

LEGITIMACY AS THE BASIS FOR ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF VOLUNTARY ORGANIZATIONS

In the analysis of voluntary organizations, legitimacy and legitimation are useful concepts becau... more In the analysis of voluntary organizations, legitimacy and legitimation are useful concepts because they bring to light the process through which organizational entities justify their right to exist and their actions within a particular normative context (Maurer, 1971; Meyer & Scott, 1983; Beetham, 2013). Theories of legitimacy underscore the moral basis of organizational power as grounded in the relationship between organizations and different kinds of audiences. In this chapter, we look at how those concepts and theories relate to the study of voluntary organizations. Those theories not only help us understand how voluntary organizations establish themselves, strengthen their position and survive over time despite very limited material resources of their own, but also how different organizational claims can directly impact communities, either by publicly projecting particular conceptions of community or by articulating specific

Organisational legitimacy beyond ethnicity? Shifting organisational logics in the struggle for immigrant rights in Los Angeles

Immigrant political organisations in the United States have traditionally built political power b... more Immigrant political organisations in the United States have
traditionally built political power by claiming to legitimately
represent an ethnically defined group. However, the emergence
of a number of multi-ethnic, class-based organisations over the
last two decades has challenged this assumption, while raising
questions about the ability of the institutional context to
accommodate organisational change. Building on a neo-institutional theory of legitimacy, I examine the diverging legitimating strategies employed by two long-standing immigrant organisations based in Los Angeles (LA): the Korean Resource Center (KRC) and the Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance (KIWA). Through grant applications, organisational archival data and qualitative interviews, I show how KRC and KIWA, two groups embedded in the same sociopolitical context, have built unique yet equally successful legitimating accounts by adopting different organisational logics, one broadly based on ethnicity and one on class and multi-ethnicity. I suggest that KIWA and KRC’s ideological differences, and their reliance on a different core of supporters – ethnic-oriented for KRC, labour-oriented for KIWA – drove the organisations towards distinct, yet partially overlapping subfields. By discursively mobilising those connections, and by actively shaping the surrounding organisational environment, both KRC and KIWA were able to incorporate in the broader non-profit advocacy sector in LA.

Policy papers, Reviews and Calls by Davide Gnes

Challenging the status quo. A critical analysis of the diversity trends in the European Parliament

by Tina Magazzini, Davide Gnes, and Reinhard Schweitzer

European Network Against Racism (ENAR) Fact Sheet, 2024

This fact sheet offers insights into the shifting landscape of diversity within the European Parl... more This fact sheet offers insights into the shifting landscape of diversity within the European Parliament (EP). As the only directly elected body in the European Union (EU), the EP shoulders the responsibility of representing a diverse European population across dimensions such as nationality, gender, age, language, class, ethnicity, religion, and sexual orientation. The question of whether the EP authentically mirrors this diverse EU population is crucial for evaluating the legitimacy of EU institutions and the broader state of European democracy. The information provided in this fact sheet is based on the full report 'Diversity Trends in the European Parliament.' The full report, to be published by the European Network Against Racism (ENAR) in 2024, provides comprehensive insights into diversity trends within the European Parliament. Please refer to the full report for detailed analyses, findings, and methodological index.

Call for contributions «Per un Atlante delle Realtà [R]esistenti. La riappropriazione dello spazio in Italia» su WOTS Magazine

by Stefano Piemontese, Elisabetta Rosa, Davide Cirillo, Tina Magazzini, Cecilia Vergnano, Kitti Baracsi, Fabrizio Latrofa, Davide Gnes, Marianna Manca, Chiara Manzoni, and Paul Schweizer

Gli ultimi anni hanno visto il moltiplicarsi di diverse forme di resistenza nei territori e nelle... more

Call for Short Documentaries (2016)

by Celine Cantat, Tina Magazzini, Stefano Piemontese, Davide Gnes, and Julius-Cezar MacQuarie

Conference "International Migration Integration and Social Justice in Europe" Final INTEGRIM-SCRI... more

Organizational Legitimacy Beyond Ethnicity? The Case of Kiwa and the Struggle for the Rights of Immigrant Low-Wage Workers

The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union's Seventh Fram... more The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° 316796" 'community' they claim to represent? I here build on a theory of legitimacy that emphasizes the desirability and appropriateness of organizational actions within a specific normative context. I further distinguish between cognitive legitimacy, which refers to the act of building legitimacy through the support of an internal constituency, and socio-political legitimacy, which refers to the acceptance of the organization within a wider institutional context. Moreover, I analyze the first in relation to the ideological background of the organization and in relation to the resources that its community of reference is able to provide; I analyze the second in relation to the shifting network of support and multi-organizational field in which the organization is embedded. Drawing on organizational archives and qualitative interviews, this study focuses on the history of the Korean Immigrant Workers Alliance (KIWA), a non-profit immigrant organization based in Los Angeles. The case of KIWA, an organization established within an ethnic enclave that adopted an explicitly crossethnic agenda, is particularly suitable to shed a light on the constraints and opportunities that shape the discourse and practice of immigrant non-profit organizations. Specifically, I first describe how KIWA was able to construct its multiethnic constituency by redefining traditional ethnic allegiances within the Korean community, as well as by emphasizing commonalities on the basis of shared class consciousness and racial oppression with other ethnic groups. Second, I emphasize how the development of KIWA's network of relations, particularly with progressive labor unions, advocacy organizations and immigrant rights groups, impacted KIWA's activities by steering them in the direction of workplace issues and multiethnic alliances. KIWA's embeddedness in such a network provided an organizational space where shared practices, ideas and strategies kept the organization firmly anchored within the labor and the social and economic justice movement.

Legitimacy as the Basis for Organizational Development of Voluntary Organizations

Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research, 2018

In the analysis of voluntary organizations, legitimacy and legitimation are useful concepts becau... more In the analysis of voluntary organizations, legitimacy and legitimation are useful concepts because they bring to light the process through which organizational entities justify their right to exist and their actions within a particular normative context (Maurer 1971; Meyer and Scott 1983; Beetham 2013). Theories of legitimacy underscore the moral basis of organizational power as grounded in the relationship between organizations and different kinds of audiences. In this chapter, we look at how those concepts and theories relate to the study of voluntary organizations. Those theories not only help us understand how voluntary organizations establish themselves, strengthen their position and survive over time despite very limited material resources of their own, but also how different organizational claims can directly impact communities, either by publicly projecting particular conceptions of community or by articulating specific interests and needs on behalf of its members In our review of the literature on organizational legitimacy, we focus on three main aspects of legitimacy: conceptualization of the term in organizational sociology, political sociology and studies of non-profit organizations; the constraining role of institutionalized normative contexts and competing audiences in the legitimation processes; the agentic role of organizations within both institutional and strategic contexts.

Organisational legitimacy beyond ethnicity? Shifting organisational logics in the struggle for immigrant rights in Los Angeles

Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 2016

Immigrant political organisations in the United States have traditionally built political power b... more Immigrant political organisations in the United States have traditionally built political power by claiming to legitimately represent an ethnically defined group. However, the emergence of a number of multi-ethnic, class-based organisations over the last two decades has challenged this assumption, while raising questions about the ability of the institutional context to accommodate organisational change. Building on a neo-institutional theory of legitimacy, I examine the diverging legitimating strategies employed by two long-standing immigrant organisations based in Los Angeles (LA): the Korean Resource Center (KRC) and the Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance (KIWA). Through grant applications, organisational archival data and qualitative interviews, I show how KRC and KIWA, two groups embedded in the same sociopolitical context, have built unique yet equally successful legitimating accounts by adopting different organisational logics, one broadly based on ethnicity and one on class and multi-ethnicity. I suggest that KIWA and KRC's ideological differences, and their reliance on a different core of supportersethnic-oriented for KRC, labour-oriented for KIWAdrove the organisations towards distinct, yet partially overlapping subfields. By discursively mobilising those connections, and by actively shaping the surrounding organisational environment, both KRC and KIWA were able to incorporate in the broader non-profit advocacy sector in LA.

Non-Governmental Organisations and Legitimacy: Authority, Power and Resources

Journal of Migration History, 2019

In the analysis of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), legitimacy and legitimation are useful ... more In the analysis of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), legitimacy and legitimation are useful concepts because they bring to light the processes through which organisational entities justify their right to exist and their actions within a particular normative context. Theories of legitimacy underscore the moral basis of organisational power as grounded in the relationship between organisations and different kinds of audiences. In this article, we look at how those concepts and theories relate to the study of NGOs. Those theories not only help us understand how organisations establish themselves, strengthen their position and survive over time despite very limited material resources of their own, but also how organisations may build political power. In our review of the literature on organisational legitimacy, we focus on three main aspects of legitimacy: the conceptualisation of the term in organisational sociology, political sociology and political science; the constraining role...

Chant Down the Walls: Exploring the Potential of Video Methods in the Study of Immigrant Politics and Social Movements

IMISCOE Research Series

In this chapter I draw on my fieldwork experience in Los Angeles to discuss the potential of vide... more In this chapter I draw on my fieldwork experience in Los Angeles to discuss the potential of video for qualitative research on migration and political action. I focus specifically on three aspects: access to the field, research respondents and data; video and the study of micro-social interaction; video as a tool to generate new insights and data. I argue that video has facilitated, enriched and expanded my understanding of migrant political action in several ways, some of which were entirely unexpected at the beginning of this research. Within the field of migration studies, video appears particularly suitable to research the terrain of politics and culture, since it provides the means to study a key social aspect that is difficult to investigate in detail only with other types of methods: interaction. Hence, video as both a tool and a method proved a useful complement to interviews, artefacts and archive documentation.

Local Path Dependency and Scale Shift in Social Movements: The Case of the Us Immigrant Rights Movement

Geographical Review

Local Path Dependency and Scale Shift in Social Movements: The Case of the Us Immigrant Rights Movement

by Walter Nicholls and Davide Gnes

Geographical Review

Local Path Dependency and Scale Shift in Social Movements: The Case of the Us Immigrant Rights Movement

Geographical Review

LEGITIMACY AS THE BASIS FOR ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF VOLUNTARY ORGANIZATIONS

In the analysis of voluntary organizations, legitimacy and legitimation are useful concepts becau... more In the analysis of voluntary organizations, legitimacy and legitimation are useful concepts because they bring to light the process through which organizational entities justify their right to exist and their actions within a particular normative context (Maurer, 1971; Meyer & Scott, 1983; Beetham, 2013). Theories of legitimacy underscore the moral basis of organizational power as grounded in the relationship between organizations and different kinds of audiences. In this chapter, we look at how those concepts and theories relate to the study of voluntary organizations. Those theories not only help us understand how voluntary organizations establish themselves, strengthen their position and survive over time despite very limited material resources of their own, but also how different organizational claims can directly impact communities, either by publicly projecting particular conceptions of community or by articulating specific

Organisational legitimacy beyond ethnicity? Shifting organisational logics in the struggle for immigrant rights in Los Angeles

Immigrant political organisations in the United States have traditionally built political power b... more Immigrant political organisations in the United States have
traditionally built political power by claiming to legitimately
represent an ethnically defined group. However, the emergence
of a number of multi-ethnic, class-based organisations over the
last two decades has challenged this assumption, while raising
questions about the ability of the institutional context to
accommodate organisational change. Building on a neo-institutional theory of legitimacy, I examine the diverging legitimating strategies employed by two long-standing immigrant organisations based in Los Angeles (LA): the Korean Resource Center (KRC) and the Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance (KIWA). Through grant applications, organisational archival data and qualitative interviews, I show how KRC and KIWA, two groups embedded in the same sociopolitical context, have built unique yet equally successful legitimating accounts by adopting different organisational logics, one broadly based on ethnicity and one on class and multi-ethnicity. I suggest that KIWA and KRC’s ideological differences, and their reliance on a different core of supporters – ethnic-oriented for KRC, labour-oriented for KIWA – drove the organisations towards distinct, yet partially overlapping subfields. By discursively mobilising those connections, and by actively shaping the surrounding organisational environment, both KRC and KIWA were able to incorporate in the broader non-profit advocacy sector in LA.

Challenging the status quo. A critical analysis of the diversity trends in the European Parliament

by Tina Magazzini, Davide Gnes, and Reinhard Schweitzer

European Network Against Racism (ENAR) Fact Sheet, 2024

This fact sheet offers insights into the shifting landscape of diversity within the European Parl... more This fact sheet offers insights into the shifting landscape of diversity within the European Parliament (EP). As the only directly elected body in the European Union (EU), the EP shoulders the responsibility of representing a diverse European population across dimensions such as nationality, gender, age, language, class, ethnicity, religion, and sexual orientation. The question of whether the EP authentically mirrors this diverse EU population is crucial for evaluating the legitimacy of EU institutions and the broader state of European democracy. The information provided in this fact sheet is based on the full report 'Diversity Trends in the European Parliament.' The full report, to be published by the European Network Against Racism (ENAR) in 2024, provides comprehensive insights into diversity trends within the European Parliament. Please refer to the full report for detailed analyses, findings, and methodological index.