Call for Papers: special issue of Intersections. East European Journal of Society and Politics - Social movements and contentious politics in Central and Eastern Europe

The systematic study of social movements in Central and Eastern Europe began with studying the transition of Communist regimes and the role of grass roots mobilizations in that process. Over the years large parts of civil society became professionalized and social movements were often limited to their subcultural enclaves. This development led to a complex relationship between political parties, contentious politics and society. Nevertheless, despite common beliefs concerning weak civil societies, the region witnessed numerous protest campaigns, waves of mobilization accompanying the Global Justice Movement, and in recent years the growth of far-right movements.

The shared characteristics of political-historical development and common traits of the social movements sector of CEE countries make academic reflection necessary. In this special issue of Intersections., we aim at a critical reflection not only on the movements themselves, but also on the ways they are studied and analysed in the region. We are looking for papers that primarily address, but are not limited to, the following topics:

• Social movement research in Central and Eastern Europe: is there such thing as a regional specificity when it comes to social movements and the ways to study them?
• Embedded contention: can social movements be seen as part of the broader civil society?
• Captured movements? Relations of political parties and social movements.
• Radical rightist movements and un-civil society. Could recent (and growing) right wing mobilizations in Central and Eastern Europe be seen as a new cycle of contention? How do these mobilizations relate to previous forms of activism?

We invite scholars to submit an abstract of no more than 800 words including a short bio and the description of the main question(s) and finding(s) of the paper along the methodology applied, by January 31^st 2015 through our online submission system. The deadline for final papers is March 31^st 2015. We expect the 3^rd special issue to be out in late 2015.

IEEJSP is a peer reviewed journal promoting multidisciplinarity and comparative thinking on Eastern and Central European politics and societies in a global context. The journal publishes research articles of international relevance and encourages both inter- and intra-regional comparative analysis. The Journal provides an international forum for scholars investigating political and social phenomena within and beyond the region. For more information visit:

http://intersections.tk.mta.hu/index.php/intersections

 If you are a new user, register at http://intersections.tk.mta.hu/index.php/intersections/user/register

For publication guidelines, please consult http://intersections.tk.mta.hu/index.php/intersections/about/submissions#authorGuidelines

In case of any further questions contact our guest editors Grzegorz Piotrowski (grzegorz.piotrowski@sh.se) and Dániel Mikecz (Mikecz.Daniel@tk.mta.hu), or journal editor Zsófia Papp (papp.zsofia@tk.mta.hu). If you encounter technical problems contact István Hegedűs (intersections@tk.mta.hu).