CEE Extremism and Resilience

Across Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), nations and their peoples continue to face evolving political and social challenges amid the consolidation of radical and illiberal influences. Governments, such as Fidesz in Hungary, SMER in Slovakia, and the increasingly right-leaning ANO in Czechia, exemplify broader regional shifts in which radical right parties have gained significant traction. Similar dynamics are observable elsewhere in the region, notably in Austria, Serbia, and Poland (despite the victory of Donald Tusk in 2023), where nationalist and exclusionary rhetoric continues to shape public discourse and policymaking. Yet alongside these challenges, forms of resilience (both institutional and grassroots) continue to emerge in a region for which the labels of democratic backsliding, corruption, and political failure are often assumed as a trend (Cianetti et al, 2018). Examples include the victories of PAS in the 2024 presidential and 2025 parliamentary elections in Moldova, the formation of the ‘Pact of Free Cities’ in 2019, student-led street movements in the wake of the Novi Sad railway station collapse in Serbia, annual anti-fascist counter-protests against the far-right Vienna Academics’ Ball in Austria, and the mobilisation and resilience of civic society in a Ukraine subject to continued military occupation and aggression. This section, jointly organised and supported by the Extremism and Democracy and Central and East European Politics Standing Groups, seeks to bring together scholars examining the dual influences, and often tensions, between the development and resistance of extremism in the region. While much research and attention have been given to democratic backsliding and illiberalism, this section aims to go beyond these narratives to investigate how resilience is built, maintained, and expressed in the face of mounting extremist pressures. The section invites contributions which approach extremism and resilience as intertwined practices shaping contemporary political and social life in CEE. Notably, extremism in this context is not understood by solely looking at fringe or violent actors but by also considering it as a wider set of narratives and identities that exist within mainstream politics. The existence of liberal democracy depends on the response of liberal “counter-publics” to confront illiberalism, authoritarianism, and extremism (Volintiru, 2021). This scenario can also entail competitive reinterpretations of the nature of “democracy”, with the electorate choosing between “pro-Western”, “pro-EU” candidates and “pro-Russia” candidates (Gherasim, 2025). These pressures have generated new forms of resilience and continued to support existing ones, which range from institutional adaptation and civic mobilisation to cultural and digital resistance. The section therefore welcomes work that moves between and beyond formal political arenas and into the vast array of social movements, online communities, and transnational activist networks. It seeks to capture how local contexts, historical legacies, and transnational links intersect to produce both radicalisation and resistance. We thus encourage scholars to explore the complex interplay between online and offline dynamics, the enduring influence of historical narratives and collective memory, the role of religion, and the impact of external forces such as EU policymaking and/or the integration process or a potential second Trump presidency on the region’s evolving political and social landscape. In addressing these questions, the section aims to connect scholars across many different methodologies, national foci, and subfields, from comparative politics to regional studies (and everything in between). It welcomes empirical and theoretical contributions that deepen our understanding of how extremism and resilience manifest across CEE and what these cases reveal about broader global trends in political contestation and social transformation. We warmly invite scholars to propose papers and panels that bring fresh theoretical and methodological perspectives to the themes outlined below. We especially welcome innovative panels that reflect the richness and diversity of the ECPR research community — including a range of career stages, genders, ethnicities, and regional expertise — and we are committed to supporting the active participation of early-career scholars. The section invites papers and panels particularly (but not exclusively) on the following topics focused on the CEE region and beyond: • Offline and online connections and dynamics promoting or eroding democracy • The role of historical narratives and memory politics in extremism and resilience • Cross-border influences among extremist and activist movements • The EU, a second Trump presidency, and shifting political currents in the region • Non-institutional actors, social movements, and the margins of political life • Grassroots and community-based responses to radicalisation, extremism, and polarization • Normalisation, resistance, and the blurring of democratic boundaries • Consequences of ideological disalignment between local and national, rural and urban politics • Religion as moral authority and inspiration for mobilisation • Conflicts and tensions surrounding the EU integration process