Introduction: Mass Mobilization in Comparative Perspective

• Published in: Demokratizatsiya (Washington, D.C.) Vol. 26; no. 2; pp. 111 - 147
• Main Authors: Bunce, Valerie J, Wolchik, Sharon L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies, The George Washington University 22.03.2018; George Washington University; Kirkpatrick Jordon Foundation
• Subjects: Arab Spring; Authoritarianism; Citizens; Civil society; Communism; Comparative analysis; Democracy; Democratization; Demonstrations & protests; Dictators; Domestic politics; Mobilization; Political activism; Political leadership; Postcommunist societies; Revolutions; Risk; Middle East; United Kingdom > UK; United States > US; Georgia (country); Egypt; Ukraine; North Africa; Union of Soviet Socialist Republics > USSR
• ISSN: 1074-6846; 1940-4603

The uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa that are commonly referred to as the Arab Spring once again highlighted an important set of questions that lie at the intersection between democratic and authoritarian and domestic and international politics. What factors lead citizens to join together in large numbers and to take the risk of mounting large-scale protests against authoritarian rulers? Why and how do these mobilizations spread to some, but not all, neighboring countries? This issue focuses on two of the three largest waves of mass mobilization and protest that have challenged authoritarian and semi-authoritarian regimes in the late 20th and early 21st centuries: the events that led to the end of communism in Central and Eastern Europe in 1989 and the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the so-called color revolutions in post-communist Europe and Eurasia that originated in Slovakia in 1998 and spread to Croatia and Serbia in 2000, Georgia in 2003, Ukraine in 2004, and Kyrgyzstan in 2005.