Archive 2/2020

Jiří Navrátil
Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
ORCID: 0000-0001-5333-044X
e-mail: jiri.navratil@fss.muni.cz


Alena Kluknavská
Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
ORCID: 0000-0002-3679-3335
e-mail: alena.kluknavska@econ.muni.cz

Abstract

The article links previous debates on the qualities of civil society in CEE countries and its contemporary challenges with the aim to demonstrate the debate’s inner differentiation but also its persevering incapacity to identify and articulate current political risks. The article critically reflects on discussions over the presumed weakness of civil society and connects them to the major contemporary challenges for post-socialist civil society in the last decade – profound political transformations driven by authoritarian elites, the 2015 European refugee crisis, and the current coronavirus pandemic. Examining the trajectories and characteristics of CEE civil societies in relation to these developments, we claim that instead of a single, homogenous CEE civil society shaped by a shared communist past, civil societies in the region are largely determined by different national political contexts. One of the few common characteristics which makes them different from their old democratic counterparts is their depoliticization, mostly in terms of their selective approach to political issues and risks.

Key words

civil society; Central and Eastern Europe; post-communism; anti-establishment; refugee crisis; pandemic

Márton Gerő
Hungarian Academy of Sciences Centre of Excellence, Budapest, Hungary
ORCID: 0000-0003-4372-7464
e-mail: gero.marton@tk.mta.hu

Pál Susánszky
Hungarian Academy of Sciences Centre of Excellence, Budapest, Hungary
ORCID: 0000-0003-3735-9079
e-mail: susanszky.pal@tk.mta.hu

Ákos Kopper
Hungarian Academy of Sciences Centre of Excellence, Budapest, Hungary
ORCID: 0000-0002-8873-8610
e-mail: akoskopper@gmail.com

Gergely Tóth
Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary, Budapest, Hungary
ORCID: 0000-0001-8040-1899
e-mail: toth.gergely@emk.sote.hu

Abstract

In the last decade, there has been a tendency for governments to impose tighter restrictions on civil society organizations, especially those promoting democracy and human rights. In this study, we examine how human rights organizations are responding to the increasingly hostile political environment in Hungary. The expanding limits on civil society organizations is usually discussed within a framework labelled as the closing space for civil society, which emphasizes the legislation and governmental actions directly attacking civil society organizations. Despite the impression that the restrictions threaten the existence of these organizations, a closer examination reveals that well-established organizations are capable of developing coping strategies to survive. To fully understand how these strategies are developed, we need to supplement this framework with the theory of political opportunity structures. This broader theoretical perspective examines the openness of decision-making processes for non-ruling actors and includes the role of perceptions in the examination of reactions to changes in the opportunity structure. As our study shows, perceptions about the social environment have a crucial role in understanding the strategies of human rights organizations. Examining the reactions of ten organizations, primarily using the method of organizational interviews, we show that rather than direct restrictions attacking civil society organizations, the major factor shaping their strategies is the closing of political opportunities. As a consequence of an almost total closure of decision-making mechanisms, they have been changing their activities from focusing on their roles as experts and working with state institutions to emphasizing social embeddedness, community building and raising awareness.

Key words

closing space; political opportunity structures; civil society; human rights; Hungary

Dániel Mikecz
Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
ORCID: 0000-0002-2893-3115
e-mail: mikecz.daniel@tk.mta.hu

Abstract

The paper investigates the moral element of the claims-making process in the case of solidarity movements. The question is how claims are made and articulated if the claimants do not seek direct benefits but refer to moral principles. The paper answers the research question by identifying the role of morality on three levels of two Hungarian solidarity movements’ praxis: goals, forms and means of mobilization; hence, the issues, the forms and frames of solidarity movements’ claims making. According to the data, organizations helping refugees stand closer to voluntary organizations of political altruism than to the politically motivated solidarity movements. The data also demonstrate that established solidarity movements use a medley of policy reasoning and morally justified action. New, emerging solidarity movements can rely on morality claims when they wish to supplement their lack of expertise or resources.

Key words

social movements; solidarity movements; political altruism; claims making, East Central Europe; Hungary

Ágnes Gagyi
University of Gothenburg, Sweden
ORCID: 0000-0001-8124-4530
e-mail: agnes.gagyi@gu.se


Márton Szarvas
Central European University, Budapest, Hungary
ORCID: 0000-0001-9600-4804
e-mail: Szarvas_marton@phd.ceu.edu


András Vígvári
Hungarian Academy of Science Centre of Excellence, Budapest
ORCID: 0000-0001-5181-7596
e-mail: vigvari.andras@krtk.mta.hu

Abstract

Our paper aims to contribute to the understanding of civil society in Hungary by looking beyond the struggles around open society and international NGOs, a topic that has dominated public debates on civil organizations in Hungary for the last decade. Our starting point follows the literature that has broadened the understanding of NGOs in the post-socialist space with the perspective of their insertion in global hierarchies in terms of unequal knowledge and resource transfer, material dependencies and the effects in local social settings. More attention recently has been given to the social positions of domestic civil organizations and the political and material dependencies they operate within. The analysis of organizations which represent and defend different interests within different social strata is crucial to understanding civil society in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Following this thread of discussions, we look at three segments of civil society which were previously understudied, to expand on how social relations structure civil society in contemporary CEE: 1) nationalist but anti-governmental organizations, for example in the field of housing; 2) urban and rural informal self-organization in order to cope with material hardships collectively has been significantly growing in the recent years; 3) rural civil organizations aligned with local elites, embedded in material dependencies, which have been present since 1990, but occupy a more and more significant role after the illiberal turn. We think that adding these segments to the study of civil society in CEE can help to broaden the analysis beyond the discursively and ideologically thematized struggles around NGOs, and contribute to a better understanding of illiberal regimes and the counter-movements they produce.

Key words

Civil society; hegemony; post-socialism; Hungary; informality; ethnography; housing; informal housing; housing debt; forex loan; illiberalism

Maciej Olejnik
University of Wrocław, Poland
ORCID: 0000-0002-8697-3158
e-mail: olejnik@wbz.uni.wroc.pl

Abstract

Between 1945 and 2010 three main types of corporatism were discussed in the political science literature: the ‘classic’ and ‘lean’ corporatism that existed in the West European countries and the ‘illusory’ corporatism that dominated in Central and Eastern Europe after 1989. The aim of the paper is to examine whether a new version of corporatism, which I call ‘patronage’ corporatism, emerged in Hungary and Poland during the first term of the governments formed by populist political parties (in Hungary between 2010 and 2014 and in Poland between 2015 and 2019). In patronage corporatism the authorities autonomously conduct heterodox economic policy. They enter into alliances only with ideologically close trade unions. While their cronies legitimize authorities’ decisions at the governmental level vis-à-vis the citizens and at the international level, the government fulfils some of their socio-economic and organizational demands. Furthermore, the government cooperates with its allies to destroy other trade unions that are perceived as hostile towards the authorities. The paper shows that the capture of power by populist parties in Hungary and Poland led to the development of patronage corporatism in these countries.

Key words

patronage corporatism; political exchange; Hungary; Poland; populist political parties; trade unions; employers’ organizations

Grzegorz Piotrowski
University of Gdańsk and European Solidarity Centre, Gdańsk, Poland
ORCID: 0000-0001-5193-4661
e-mail: grzegorz.piotrowski@ug.edu.pl

Abstract

The threats to democracy from populist political projects are more and more often commented on and analyzed around the world. The Polish case is not an exception as there are numerous scholarly papers on the changes in public discourse, politics, democratic institutions and the like. The case of civil society is, however, sometimes overlooked and downplayed in this stream of thought. This article looks at the recent reconfigurations within the sphere of civil society in Poland as well as in the ways this sector of activities is conceptualized and analyzed by scholars and commentators alike. This approach stems from understanding civil society in Poland as a political project, a process begun around the transition of 1989, but that also had political meaning during the years of consolidation of democracy. Only the recent reconfiguration and accumulation of power and consequent shift in politics and public discourse to the right has resulted – among other things – in higher levels of activism among citizens and politicization of numerous topics. The observed higher levels of citizen engagement have pushed some observers and scholars to re-define the concept of civil society in Poland and to include within it forms of activism previously excluded. With the numerous and often politicized collective actions of Poles – such as nationalist activism, urban activism, and participation in street protests – not only is the concept of civil society being stretched but also some previously used distinctions, such as the notion of ‘uncivil society’, are no longer in use.

Key words

civil society; illiberal democracy; Poland; third sector

Abstract

Michal Klíma: INFORMAL POLITICS IN POST-COMMUNIST EUROPE: POLITICAL PARTIES, CLIENTELISM AND STATE CAPTURE. London: Routledge. 2020. 222 pages.

Key words

Abstract

Michal Kubát, Martin Mejstřík (eds.): GIOVANNI SARTORI: CHALLENGING POLITICAL SCIENCE. London – New York: Rowman & Littlefield / ECPR Press. 2019. 152 pages.

Key words