Publication
Mobilising against Democratic Backsliding: What Motivates Protestors in Central and Eastern Europe?
Several central and eastern European countries have experienced democratic erosion of different kinds. In this article, Antoaneta Dimitrova and others explore what motivates protesters in Central and Eastern Europe.
- Author
- Courtney Blackington, Antoaneta L. Dimitrova, Iulia Ionita and Milada Anna Vachudova
- Date
- 23 May 2024
- Links
- Read the full article here
While the Czech Republic and Poland have faced democratic backsliding, others, such as Bulgaria and Romania, are better characterised as struggling with democratic stagnation. Regardless of the type of democratic erosion, robust protest movements have challenged these trends. What motivates protesters who face different types of democratic erosion to take to the streets? What kinds of political and institutional changes do they seek? In this article, the authors theorise that protesters experiencing democratic backsliding prioritise changing the government or altering the political practices that have developed over the last decade. By contrast, protesters facing democratic stagnation emphasise the need to reform long-standing institutions and practices that have existed since the country transitioned to democracy in 1989. To test their hypotheses, original surveys of pro-democracy protesters in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Poland, and Romania were conducted.