Political Protest and Activism in Central Eastern Europe after 1989

Available literature warns that although East-­Central European countries have managed to adopt democratic constitutions, develop free market economies, organize free elections, and join the European Union, they still lack a more developed democratic civic culture. Individual-­level reports show that over the last twenty years these countries have witnessed growing political apathy and resignation amongst their citizens. As a source of these processes the authors identify frustration and disappointment with the actual economic and political performance of these democracies, a performance that sharply contrasts with the high expectations and enthusiasm about the ideal of democracy as it was seen in the early 1990s. However, only a limited amount of empirical evidence has been put together to support this “honeymoon disillusion” theory. This presentation will critically engage with the skeptical understanding of post-­communist politics that exists on the level of both activist (civil society) organizations and street protest. To this end, the presentation will draw on an organizational survey and on protest event data covering twenty years of protest in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary.

Ondřej Císař is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University in Prague, and is also affiliated to the Institute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences. He is editor-­in-­chief of the Czech edition of the Czech Sociological Review. His research focuses on political mobilization, social movements and political sociology. He is the author or co-­author of four books and has published numerous papers. Recent publications include: “Social Movements in Political Science” (Oxford Handbook of Social Movements, 2015); “Promoting Competition or Cooperation? The Impact of EU Funding on Czech Advocacy Organizations” (with J. Navrátil, Democratization, 2015); “The Emergence of a European Social Movement Research Field” (with M. Diani, Routledge Handbook of European Sociology, 2014); “Transnational Activism of Social Movement Organizations: The Effect of European Union Funding on Local Groups in the Czech Republic” (with K. Vráblíková, European Union Politics, 2013). Full academic profile: https://cuni.academia.edu/OndrejCisar