Feminist Movements (Central and Eastern Europe)

Abstract

After the fall of the socialist regimes, the development of feminist movements in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) was subsumed into the general depiction of civil society in the region – as weak, nonparticipatory, and with a low capacity for mobilization, explained as a reaction to the former compulsory participation in collective action. The availability of funds during the democratization process supported an early institutionalization of social movements which engaged in transactional activism – favoring strategic networking and cooperative problem‐solving with policymakers, rather than mobilizing constituencies. While donors' support enhanced professionalization and consolidated the organizational capacity of social movement organizations (SMOs), financial dependence contributed to goal displacement and lowering the politicization of local issues. This rather hostile picture was supported by analyses undertaken under the transitology school of thought that consolidated tropes about postsocialist states – at the beginning of their institutional building pursuit, catching up with the West. Recent studies evoke a multiplicity of social movements that use various repertoires of action to address different audiences, while adapting to the diverse, sometimes contrasting, structures of political opportunity across countries.