Is the past a burden or a boon? The struggle for survival of communist-era youth and nature protection organizations in the Czech Republic, 1989–2019

Abstract

After 1989, civic activity across Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) began to thrive in numerous organizations, some of which were created during the Communist era. Whereas many civil society organizations (CSOs) do not carry the legacy of the Communist past, we know little about how CSOs that were created during Communism survive after 1989: Is their historical legacy a burden to carry and a detriment to their survival? Or can they use that legacy to survive the new tumultuous civic environment? This qualitative case study of three youth and environmental organizations with a Communist past – Pioneer, Brontosaurus, and The Czech Union of Nature Protectors (CUNP) – builds on a synthesis of new institutionalism and regime change theories to investigate how, from 1989 to 2019, CSOs balance the old legacies, such as dealing with Communist history, their continuing dependence on the state, and the radical change in political discourse on voluntarism and CSOs. Case studies reveal that, in adapting to the times, the CSOs did retain some elements of their Communist past but had to obscure other elements of their history from the new actors who regard that legacy unfavorably. Whereas foreign actors do help shape CSO agendas, the state remains the central actor in shaping the post-1989 institutional environment.

Keywords:

• Organizational survival
• new institutionalism
• transformation
• organizational history

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by Polska Akademia Nauk. This article was funded by the grant 2/2018 from the Graduate School for Social Research, Polish Academy of Sciences.

Notes on contributors

Inna Bell

Inna Bell has received her PhD from the Graduate School for Social Research at the Polish Academy of Sciences. She obtained her MA in Eastern European Studies from the University of Warsaw. Her papers have been accepted for publication in Ask: Research and Methods (co-authored with Joshua Kjerulf Dubrow) and peer-reviewed edited volumes (Gdańsk: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Katedra and Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing). Her research interests include organizational mortality, civil society, voluntarism, and post-communist transformation.