Suchergebnisse

Intro -- Acknowledgements -- CONTENT -- INTRODUCTION -- 1 THE DREAM: THINKING ABOUT CIVIL SOCIETY IN THE CZECH LANDS BEFORE 1989 -- 1.1 Three Concepts -- 1.1.1 Tesař (1977): Civil Society as an Antidote to Non-democratic Regimes -- 1.1.2 Benda (1978): Parallel Polis -- 1.1.3 Havel (1978): Living in Truth and Non-Political Politics -- 1.2 Conclusion: Dream or Program? -- 2 CIVIL SOCIETY IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC: A STORY OF SLOW EMANCIPATION -- 2.1 Introduction and Historical Background -- 2.1.1 Development before 1989 and Some Consequences -- 2.1.2 Crucial Moments and Political Turn-Overs after 1989 -- 2.2 Characteristics of Civil Society: Basic Data -- 2.3 Institutional Background of Civil Society -- 2.3.1 The Legal Environment of CSOs -- 2.3.2 The Legal Environment of Advocacy -- 2.3.3 Financial Environment -- 2.4 Perspectives -- 3 EMBEDDEDNESS OF CIVIC ADVOCACY CSOs IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC: AN EMPIRICAL ASSESSMENT -- 3.1 Theoretical and Conceptual Background: Four Ideal Types of Civil Society Development -- 3.2 Czech Civic Advocacy -- 3.3 Data and Methods -- 3.4 Membership in Advocacy and Non-advocacy Groups Compared -- 3.5 Individual Participation in Civic Advocacy Activities -- 3.6 Social Embeddedness of Advocacy CSOs -- 3.7 Patterns of Alienation between Citizens and CSOs: Mutual Perceptions -- 3.8 Summary -- CONCLUSIONS -- Figures -- Tables -- References.

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.

The Communist era and its legacy became an important part of Czech (political) culture and identity after 1989. This phenomenon is especially powerful in relation to the meaning making of the communist era after 1989 and the way Czechs are getting over it. Labels such as communist, Bolshevik, normalization, nationalization of property and many others related to the communist era became powerful vehicles for stigmatization and creating a public enemy in almost any sphere, be it political, show business, or public. What makes it especially powerful is that the cultural and historical legacies (understood as deliberately propagated representations of selected fragments of the group's past), when expressed explicitly, offer models of or for behaviour and thinking. In other words, public memory is often one of the constitutive factors of contentious and politically motivated mobilizations undertaken by different actors like political parties, social movements or individual agents when seeking public support or legitimacy, or just aiming to achieve their goals. In post-communist countries these actors often strive to mobilize participants, supporters or even opponents using legacies of the Communist past. In this text we seek to uncover how various situations, events or people are constructed as public enemies by using the communist legacy. In particular, we ask the following questions: How is anti-communist framing constructed and how does anti-communist framing resonate with popular images and understanding of Communism, the Communist era in the Czech Republic and related matters? We analyse anti-communist framing (i.e. directly or indirectly identify the situation, adversaries, institutions or activities with the Communist regime) and via constructing metaphors provide readers with deep understanding of how particular Communist legacies in specific contexts create public enemies who lose sympathy and support from the public.