Activist Citizenship in Southeast Europe

The contributions to this collection on protest and activist citizenship in Southeast Europe (SEE) delve far beyond discussions about the efficacy and legitimacy of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and social movement organisations that have dominated the study of civil society in post-communism. They focus instead on how certain types of citizenship—most notably ‘activist citizenship’—are forged or not forged; how citizens are drawn into ‘acts of citizenship’ (Isin 2008, 2009) other than through joining or supporting established NGOs. The essays illustrate what political scientists find it difficult to uncover—non-institutionalised and non-formal modes of collective action, symbolic politics, cultural challenges, acts of citizenship, and participation that defy notions of ‘weak civil society’ (Rose 2001; Crotty 2003; Howard 2003) or the ‘NGO-isation’ of civil society spaces (Jacobsson & Saxonberg 2013).