The diffusion of public interest mobilisation: a historical sociology perspective on advocates without members in the post-communist Czech Republic

Abstract

The paper proposes an explanation for the boom in advocacy organisations in the Czech Republic after the collapse of the Communist regime in 1989. There has been a major increase in the number of professional advocacy organisations, accompanied by an influx of “post-materialist” issues. In the first half of 1990s, American and European state and non-state actors promoted these issues. Since the end of 1990s, European Union funds have taken over as the most important source of funding. Foreign funding has thus created conditions conducive to the emergence and development of advocacy-based activism in the Czech Republic. Moreover, advocacy organisations are presented in the paper as the locus of a new type of politically oriented activism, which is no longer based on mobilisation, but rather on transactions.

Keywords:

• civil society
• Czech Republic
• Czechoslovakia
• democratisation
• East-Central Europe

Acknowledgement

This paper has been prepared as part of the research project Collective Action and Protest in East-Central Europe (code GAP404/11/0462) funded by the Czech Science Foundation.

Notes

According to the USAID, this group includes Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Slovakia (USAID 2006).

Officials from the following organisations were interviewed: Rainbow Movement; Greenpeace Czech Republic and Europe; Nesehnutí; Transparency International Czech Republic and Europe; Gender Studies; Anarcho-feminist Group; European Network Against Racism; Amnesty International Czech Republic and Europe; Friends of the Earth Europe; European Trade Union Confederation; European Women's Lobby; CEE Bankwatch Network; Council of the Government of the Czech Republic for Human Rights; Counselling Centre for Citizenship, Civil and Human Rights; League of Human Rights.

Comparatively, unions excel the most in aggregation of individual contributions. According to the Czech SMOs Survey, 83% of trade union organisations derive at least 50% of their revenues from individual contributions, while almost 60% obtain at least 80% of their revenues from this source.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ondřej Císař

Current address: Department of Political Science, Faculty of Arts, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.