Alterglobalism in postsocialism : a study of Central and Eastern European activists

Abstract

Alterglobalism in Postsocialism. A Study of Central and Eastern European Activists' is a doctoral thesis that presents the development and the characteristic of the Global Justice Movement in Poland, the Czech Republic and in Hungary. Using tools and approaches derived mostly from anthropology this thesis is supposed to give an insight into the movement in Central and Eastern Europe, but it also relies on the tradition of sociology (in particular social movement studies) with some references to postsocialist and historical studies. Although far from being complete, it is one of the first comparative ethnographies of the movement and of the activists in the region. One of the main ways to explain the specificity of the movement in this part of the world is the existence of the postsocialist condition – a set of factors that have shaped the ways of organization of contentious politics. This thesis also attempts to analyze the movement from various perspectives by looking at its relations with the civil society, subcultures and countercultural milieus and with other actors of the global movement. At the core of the analysis are the repertoire of actions used in the region and the frames used to link local protests with more global struggles. In particular I was interested how do the social activists manage to deal with the notion of postsocialism and how do they adapt the frames derived from activism in other parts of the world to their own cases. I have tried to analyze these processes by looking at the practices of the activists in order to get a more realistic image of the movement, not biased by the self-imaginations of the activists.