Contentious Politics and Democratization: Comparing the Impact of Social Movements on the Fall of Communism in Eastern Europe

2003 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
John K. Glenn
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Agenda Setting ◽  
Comparative Research ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
Parliamentary Democracies ◽  
New Directions ◽  
The Impact

In this paper, I identify and analyze the interaction between two processes – mobilization and bargaining – by which democratic challengers can transform political institutions, bringing together insights from the literatures on social movements, which tends to analyze movement emergence, and democratization, which tends to analyze the design of democratic institutions. I compare the impact of social movements in the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, cases that offer a valuable opportunity to extend the literature on contentious politics beyond its origins in the study of Western parliamentary democracies. The analysis directs attention to an under examined arena of political contestation, agenda setting, or the process by which the demands of social movements are translated into issues for governments. The paper argues that the traditional dichotomy between institutional and non-institutionalized contention has obscured the ways that democratic challengers not only pressure states from the outside but transform them through new forms of political participation. Finally, it considers alternative explanations and suggests new directions for comparative research across different settings and times.

Introduction

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Rachel Kahn Best
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Social Movements ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Agenda Setting ◽  
Social Problems ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Time Periods ◽  
Time Changes ◽  
Or Organization

For more than a century, disease campaigns have been the causes Americans ask their neighbors to donate to and the issues that inspire them to march and volunteer. Studies of social movements, interest groups, agenda setting, and social problems tend to focus on contentious politics and study one movement or organization at a time. But these approaches cannot reveal why disease campaigns are the battles Americans can agree to fight, why some diseases attract more attention than others, and how fighting one disease at a time changes charity and public policy. Understanding the causes and effects of disease campaigns, requires studying consensus politics and collecting data on fields of organizations over long time periods.

Nexus Politics

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 56-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Flinders ◽  
Matthew Wood
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Sociological Theory ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
Political Organizations ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Governmental Institutions ◽  
Tribal Politics

Existing research on alternative forms of political participation does not adequately account for why those forms of participation at an “everyday” level should be defined as political. In this article we aim to contribute new conceptual and theoretical depth to this research agenda by drawing on sociological theory to posit a framework for determining whether nontraditional forms of political engagement can be defined as genuinely distinctive from traditional participation. Existing “everyday politics” frameworks are analytically underdeveloped, and the article argues instead for drawing upon Michel Maffesoli’s theory of “neo-tribal” politics. Applying Maffesoli’s insights, we provide two questions for operationally defining “everyday” political participation, as expressing autonomy from formal political institutions, and building new political organizations from the bottom up. This creates a substantive research agenda of not only operationally defining political participation, but examining how traditional governmental institutions and social movements respond to a growth in everyday political participation: nexus politics.

State Political Participation

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Tolbert ◽  
William W. Franko
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
Class Bias ◽  
American States ◽  
Political Environments ◽  
Future Research Directions ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Election Laws

In this article the authors explore the literature on political participation in the states and argue that research on state political participation has provided the most theoretical and empirical innovation gains for the overall study of participation in the past few decades. The authors focus on the impact of political institutions (election laws), political environments (electoral competition), and inequality in participation rates, or class bias, across the states. Future research directions are explored and the authors emphasize on some of the ways that the American states matter for participation in our democracy

scholarly journals Learning by doing: The impact of experiencing democracy in education on political trust and participation

Politics ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 026339572199028
Author(s):  
Johannes Kiess
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political Trust ◽  
Learning By Doing ◽  
Socialization Theory ◽  
Student Council ◽  
Democracy In Education ◽  
Democratic Principles ◽  
Online Panels ◽  
The Impact

This article investigates whether engagement in school or university, such as being the speaker of class, a member of a student council, and so on, has an impact on political participation and political trust. Following interactionist socialization theory, engagement during adolescence should develop ideas of citizenship, democracy, and political participation. Schools and universities are arguably key institutions as they can promote democratic decision making in the classroom. This strengthens democracy by increasing experienced political efficacy and through internalizing democratic principles (‘learning democracy’): by acting democratic, one becomes a democratic citizen. My findings show that respondents who experienced democracy in school or university indeed tend to vote and engage even in contentious forms of political participation more often. Also, the experience of democratic practices in school and university increases trust in political institutions. Moreover, trust in political institutions, in turn, increases the likelihood of voting, but not of engaging in other forms of participation. Thus, early democratic experiences seem to foster vivid and participatory democracy without streamlining people into passive participation. The article provides empirical evidence from nine European countries and an additional glance at young cohorts based on online panels.

Democracy and Distrust

2010 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 887-889 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philippe C. Schmitter
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Social Movements ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Democratic Theory ◽  
Party Politics ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
Democratic State

Pierre Rosanvallon is one of the most important political theorists writing in French. Counter-Democracy: Politics in an Age of Distrust is a book about the limits of conventional understandings of democracy. Rosanvallon argues that while most theories of democracy focus on institutionalized forms of political participation (especially elections), the vitality of democracy rests equally on forms of “counter-democracy” through which citizens dissent, protest, and exert pressure from without on the democratic state. This argument is relevant to the concerns of a broad range of political scientists, most especially students of democratic theory, electoral and party politics, social movements, social capital, and “contentious politics.” The goal of this symposium is to invite a number of political scientists who work on these issues to comment on the book from their distinctive disciplinary, methodological, and theoretical perspectives.—Jeffrey C. Isaac, Editor

scholarly journals Attitudes toward the Market and Political Participation in the Postcommunist States

Slavic Review ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 385-406 ◽  
Author(s):  
David S. Mason
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Economic Transition ◽  
Market Economies ◽  
New States

In the aftermath of the anti-communist revolutions of 1989-1991, the new governments in eastern Europe faced the herculean task of attempting simultaneously to build market economies and democratic political institutions. Though capitalism and democracy are often considered to be natural allies, in the cases of these new states they sometimes pull against each other. The costs of the economic transition, in terms of growing unemployment, inequality and inflation, may erode support for the new governments and lead to calls for a "strong" government or leadership to cope with economic dislocations.

scholarly journals Back to the future: 10 years of European health reforms

2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Dixon ◽  
Emmi Poteliakhoff
Keyword(s):  
Health Systems ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Comparative Research ◽  
Complex Needs ◽  
Policy Ideas ◽  
What Works ◽  
The Social ◽  
European Health ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Policy Solutions

AbstractThe challenges facing European health systems have changed little over 30 years but the responses to them have. Policy ideas that emerged in some countries spread to others; however, the way policies were implemented and the impact they have had has been shaped by specific national contexts. Comparative policy analysis has evolved in response to this, moving away from simple classifications of health systems and crude rankings to studies that try and understand more deeply what works, where and why. For policymakers interested in how other countries have dealt with common challenges, it is important that they avoid the naïve transplantation of policy solutions but understand the need to translate policies to fit the institutional context of a particular country. Policies that cross borders will necessarily be shaped by the social and political institutions of a country. These dimensions should not be ignored in comparative research. The next decade will require health systems to deliver improved care for people with complex needs while at the same time delivering greater value. Policymakers will benefit from looking backwards as well as to their neighbours in order to develop appropriate policy solutions.

Democracy and Distrust

2010 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 890-892 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donatella della Porta
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Social Movements ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Democratic Theory ◽  
Party Politics ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
Democratic State

Pierre Rosanvallon is one of the most important political theorists writing in French. Counter-Democracy: Politics in an Age of Distrust is a book about the limits of conventional understandings of democracy. Rosanvallon argues that while most theories of democracy focus on institutionalized forms of political participation (especially elections), the vitality of democracy rests equally on forms of “counter-democracy” through which citizens dissent, protest, and exert pressure from without on the democratic state. This argument is relevant to the concerns of a broad range of political scientists, most especially students of democratic theory, electoral and party politics, social movements, social capital, and “contentious politics.” The goal of this symposium is to invite a number of political scientists who work on these issues to comment on the book from their distinctive disciplinary, methodological, and theoretical perspectives.—Jeffrey C. Isaac, Editor

scholarly journals Possibility of non-institutional political participation within the non-responsive system of Serbia: The impact of (dis)trust and internal political efficiency

Sociologija ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 400-418
Author(s):  
Irena Fiket ◽  
Gazela Pudar-Drasko
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political System ◽  
Civic Participation ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Trust In Institutions ◽  
The One ◽  
The Impact

Starting from the findings of previous studies, whose results speak of the distrust of Serbian citizens in political institutions and political actors, low turnout and general passivity and apathy of citizens, the authors deal with the understanding of non-institutional political participation in Serbia. The paper starts from the assumption that the stated indicators pointing to the withdrawal of Serbian citizens from political life do not necessarily represent part of the same phenomenon. Namely, the authors believe that it is necessary to distinguish between the assumptions of institutional and non-institutional civic participation. On the one hand, the authors start from the thesis that high trust in institutions can actually negatively affect the need of citizens to mobilize in order to influence institutions. At the same time, citizens may be inclined to participate in political life through non-institutional channels if they posses a developed sense of internal political efficiency, which is not necessary related to the responsiveness of the political system.

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