The power (lessness) of Social Activism: Shaping State Policy through Collective Mobilisation

Abstract

Social activism arises from frustration, disagreement and dissatisfaction with political institutions and their practises. By participating in collective mobilisation, grassroots movement participants seek to voice their opinions, defend their interests and demand their rights from the authorities. By seizing public space, they also seize the political arena, which is otherwise normally reserved for political actors and other elites. The demand for social and political change or, in other cases, the struggle to prevent such change, is at the heart of every social movement. The quest for impact is therefore what essentially drives social movements; it is the raison d'être of social mobilisations. Nevertheless, the impact of social engagement is difficult to measure and rarely achieves the immediate desired effects in full. Politicians and state authorities, who are usually the main targets of activists' resistance, may choose not to meet their demands. Sometimes it seems as if political leaders merely "tolerate" the activists' right to express their views, without showing the slightest intention to listen to the protesters, let alone respect their views. Many critical citizens and probably also academics are sometimes unsure whether social movements actually make a difference. However, the right question here is not what influence social movements have under certain circumstances, but how the situation would develop under these specific circumstances if there were no resistance at all. The papers in this panel look at the possibilities and limits of social activism, especially through the lens of (in)effective interaction between state institutions and civil society initiatives. Using case studies from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Russia and China, they ask under what conditions and to what extent social activism and collective mobilisation bring about social change.

Title	Details
Social Activism and Governments’ Response in Bosnia-Herzegovina	View Paper Details
Civil Society Institutions in Russia: Dynamics of Social Activism and NGO Participation in Social Policy from 2012 to 2022	View Paper Details
Anti-gender Movement in Slovenia: Between Fighting Marriage Equality and Strengthening LGBT+ Community	View Paper Details