Civic Resistance, Protest, and Democratic Engagement

Abstract

This panel examines the dynamics, strategies, and consequences of civic resistance across Central and Southeast Europe. Bringing together qualitative interviews, panel data analysis, and interpretive approaches, the papers explore when and how disruptive civic action, moral contestation, and narrative reframing shape political participation and regime trajectories under conditions of autocratisation. From Albania and North Macedonia, to Poland, to Serbia and Georgia, this panel looks at the different ways in which civil and political actors disrupt and confront challenges to democracy. Together, the panel advances a nuanced understanding of how civic resistance operates across arenas, scales, and repertoires, and what it means for democratic engagement in contested political environments. Finally, it underscores the inherent resilience of such engagement.

Title	Details
Is Undermining the Moral Resources of Populist Rulers an Effective Tool of Civil Society Opposition? An Analysis Based on the Example of the Law and Justice Government in Poland.	View Paper Details
Easy, Does It? When Disruptive Resistance to Autocratization Trumps Over Moderation: the Cases of Albania and North Macedonia	View Paper Details
Storytelling Movements: Renegotiating the Inclusivity of Constitutive National Stories Within Serbia’s Student-Led Civic Protests	View Paper Details
From the Street to the Ballot Box - Civic Activism and Electoral Participation in Poland.	View Paper Details
Protest and Resilience in Serbia and Georgia - Domestic Challenges in the Course of EU Enlargement	View Paper Details