The "revival" of civil society in Central Eastern Europe: New environmental and political movements

Davide Torsello

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract (may include machine translation)

    The idea of civil society is one of the oldest and most contested in Western political and sociological thought. Among the social sciences, anthropology has been the discipline that has prompted the boldest critiques of the concept. This paper argues that the "revival" of civil society in Central and Eastern Europe in one particular field-that of environmental activism-has been contingent with the outcomes of EU enlargement policies. I introduce the case study of one of the most complex and contested transport development projects in Central Eastern Europe: the Budapest Ring Road. I maintain that within the EU enlargement project alternative forms of political power have been built from below and that they eventually come to compete with the state (and local governments) to influence decision-making processes. These forms, to be individuated in the emergence of environmental activism, take shape at local, state and transnational levels and aim, although often contradictorily, at restituting political agency under the condition of lowering public participation in decision-making processes.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)178-195
    Number of pages18
    JournalHuman Affairs
    Volume22
    Issue number2
    DOIs
    StatePublished - Apr 2012

    Keywords

    • Eastern Europe
    • anthropology
    • civil society
    • environmentalism
    • social movements

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