Regime Change and Protest Patterns in Eastern Europe

The wave of anti-austerity movements brings the class and capitalism back in social movement analysis (Hetland and Goodwin 2013; della Porta 2015) and resurgences the discourse of “the people” against the “corrupted elite” by pointing out the contradictory results from the relationship between democracy and capitalism. In the period between 2011 and 2014, mass mobilizations in most East European countries have addressed austerity measures (Štiks 2015; Stoyanova 2018; Bieber and Brentin 2018) and the deficit of representative democracy for the first time since the collapse of the socialist regimes. At first glance, these protest waves in the “new democracies” are related to the global movements for more direct democracy and equality. However, when we go into detail, we can easily recognize that the frames and repertoires of political protest in Eastern Europe have not followed the same patterns as in Western and Southern Europe, but are rather heavily connected to the rhetoric and the symbols of regime change after 1989. What is not well observed, and this is my contribution to the field, is how the legacies of regime change are influencing the post-2008 protest arena in Eastern Europe. Particularly, I argue that the historical exploration of social forces, macro-structural changes and class politics may explain the patterns of Eastern European protest mobilizations after 2008. The focus of my research relies on comparison of Bulgaria and Slovenia as particularly important cases of post-communist countries which provide an opportunity for comparison of protest movements and legacies that vary significantly. The aim of this paper is to take an in-depth look at the at the protest arena by explaining how and why particular patterns of protest participation in Eastern Europe have developed. Impact of the transition will be analyzed through the concept of critical juncture. In this way, I look at the regime change as a transformative period which is having a long-term influence on subsequent mobilizations. I argue that the mechanisms through which the transition influences the mobilizations after 2008 are related to the particular focus on struggle between social forces and macro-structural changes. The research relies on comparative historical analysis by triangulating in-depth reading of historical texts, statistical analysis and semi-structured interviews with activists.