Emergence, evolution and re-structuring of Czech economic collective action field (1990 – 2017)

Since 1990s, the key formula of political economy of developed countries became globalization. This became also one of the major legitimizing narratives of neoliberal capitalism which became widely perceived as the only game in town. The necessity to adapt to international markets became both desirable and only possible policy (Streeck). Also the progressive political forces accepted the globalizing capitalism as inevitable and natural process without any alternative. The quick deregulation, increased mobility of capital and re-commodification of labor led to rising political conflict between the citizens in nation states and representatives of international markets. This was the context of international political economy to which post-socialist countries were thrown after 1989. While Western countries experienced rather continuous development towards a new neoliberal order (after having located markets in states and maintaining redistributive policies after the world war), Eastern Europe experienced a sudden fall of rigid state socialism which was immediately followed by more or less intensive economic “shock therapy”. Establishment and rise of capitalist economy here had been incredibly dynamic and overwhelming. Particularly Czechoslovak transition from centrally planned to market economy was one of the fastest among post-socialist states. Not only the citizens of recently transformed countries started to orient themselves in the new political and economic reality, but also new civil society actors emerged and started to confront and contest new social and economic conditions. Even if the expected widespread popular unrest did not take place as expected (Greskovits), collective actors started to organize various public events while making claims to political authorities or business. This paper focuses on a detailed analysis of evolution of this new collective action field arising to challenge the consequences of new economic order. It conceptualizes this field in relational perspective as having two dimensions. First, regular co-organizing of protest events by multiple collective entities (i.e. sharing goals, resources and strategies among multiple organizers) produces protest communities (Diani) – alternatively organizations remain isolated in their claim-making. Second, the very same public protests link into campaigns - networks of events linked by coordination efforts of same collective actors with same or similar claims – alternatively these events stand on their own. The aim of the paper is to analyze these two aspects of collective action field separately, yet acknowledging their structural reciprocity. Using SNA, the paper asks: what is the fragmentation and dis/-continuity of both protest communities and campaigns of economic collective action field over last three decades? How does their structure relate to changing political (POS), political-economic (transformation of economy) and economic (grievances) context? And what factors determines the importance of collective actors in protest communities, and the importance of events in protest campaigns? The paper builds on protest event analysis of economic and social protest in the Czech Republic between 1990 and 2017 (N=2701).