Abstract
Romanian society transitioned from an apathetic political culture to one in which protesting became a constant component. This chapter analyses the effects of regime transformation, cultural consumption, and social media activism on protest participation in Romania. Analysing the passage from non-involved individuals to politically active citizens, Turner’s (1967, 1969, 1974) liminality, is particularly valuable for understanding societies that undergo sociocultural transitions. It discusses this paradigm shift by focussing on the transition states of protest participants, not structural shifts. ‘Liminality and Activism. Conceptualizing Unconventional Political Participation in Romania’ concludes that this regime change provoked an almost permanent liminality; between new rules and the old order, with no resolution. This ‘in-betweenness’ is a reason why recent protests in Romania do not deliver a critique of existing configurations of power, but rather embrace models of “Western liberal democracy”.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ágh, A. (2010). Post-accession crisis in the new member states: Progressing or backsliding in the EU? Studies of Transition States and Societies, 2(1), 74–95.
Alexandrescu, S. (2013, September 19). Aurul, Rosia Montana si eficienta campaniilor de comunicare (I. Maxim, Interviewer). IQads.
Amenta, E., & Young, M. P. (1999). Making an impact: Conceptual and methodological implications of the collective goods criterion. In M. Giugni, D. McAdam, & C. Tilly (Eds.), How social movements matter (pp. 22–41). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Andreev, S. A. (2009). The unbearable lightness of membership: Bulgaria and romania after the 2007 EU accession. Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 42(3), 375–393.
Băltăreţu, R. (2017, May 14). Am vorbit cu cei care-ți arată cum a protestat România în ultimii șapte ani. vice.com.
Borcila, A. (2015). American representations of post-communism: Television, travel sites, and post-Cold War narratives. New York: Routledge.
Branea, C. (2013). Models of contention and participation of civil society in Rosia Montana environmental conflict. The Romanian Journal of Society and Politics, 8(2), 87–113.
Castells, M. (2015). Networks of outrage and hope: Social movements in the internet age (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Polity Press.
Croissant, A., & Lauth, H.-J. (2000). Zivilgesellschaft und Transformation: ein internationaler Vergleich. In W. Merkel (Ed.), Zivilgesellschaft und Transformation (pp. 9–49). Opladen: Leske + Budric.
Dâncu, V. (2015). The Facebook generation, elections, and political tribes: The case of Romania. In G. Pleyers & I. N. Sava (Eds.), Social movements in Central and Eastern Europe (pp. 312–323). Bucharest: Bucharest University Press.
della Porta, D. (2008). Eventful protest, global conflict. Distinktion: Journal of Social Theory, 9(2), 27–56.
Demirhisar, D. G. (2017). Le parc Gezi: l’espace d’un mouvement social dans un imaginaire global. In G. Pleyers & B. Capitaine (Eds.), Mouvements sociaux. Quand Le sujet devient acteur. Paris: Éditions de la Maison des sciences de l’homme.
Diamond, L. (1999). Developing democracy: Toward consolidation. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Fillieule, O., & Pudal, B. (2010). Sociologie du militantisme. Problématisation et déplacement des méthodes d’enquête. In O. Fillieule, E. Agrikoliansky, & I. Sommier (Eds.), Penser les mouvements sociaux. Conflits sociaux et contestations dans les sociétés contemporaines (pp. 163–184). Paris: La Decouverte.
Gabanyi, A. U. (1990). Die unvollendete Revolution. Rumänien zwischen Diktatur und Demokratie. München: Piper.
Georgsen, M. S., & Thomassen, B. (2017). Affectivity and liminality in ritualized protest: Politics of transformation in the Kiev uprising. Theory & Psychology, 27(2), 198–214.
Giugni, M. (1999). Introduction: How social movements matter: Past research, present problems, future developments. In M. Giugni, D. McAdam, & C. Tilly (Eds.), How social movements matter (pp. xiii–xxxiii). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Gubernat, R., & Rammelt, H. P. (2017). Recreative activism in Romania: How cultural affiliation and lifestyle yield political engagement. Socio.hu—Social Science Review, 5, 143–163.
Gubernat, R., & Rammelt, H. P. (Forthcoming). “Vrem o ţară ca afară!” Redefining Statebuilding through a pro-European discourse in Romania. East European Politics & Societies and Cultures.
Haunss, S. (2004). Identität in Bewegung Prozesse kollektiver Identität bei den Autonomen und in der Schwulenbewegung. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften.
Haunss, S., & Leach, D. K. (2007). Social movement scenes: Infrastructures of opposition in civil society. In D. Purdue (Ed.), Civil societies and social movements: Potentials and problems (pp. 71–87). London: Routledge.
Haunss, S., & Leach, D. K. (2009). Scenes and social movements. In H. Johnston (Ed.), Culture, social movements, and protest (pp. 255–276). Aldershot: Ashgate.
Lamond, I. R., & Spracklen, K. (2015). Conclusion. In I. R. Lamond & K. Spracklen (Eds.), Protests as events: Politics, activism and leisure (pp. 255–276). London: Rowman & Littlefield.
Linz, J. J., & Stepan, A. (1996). Problems of democratic transition and consolidation: Southern Europe, South America, and post-communist Europe. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Mercea, D. (2014). Towards a conceptualization of casual protest participation: Parsing a case from the Save Roşia Montană campaign. East European Politics and Society, 28(2), 386–410.
Merkel, W. (1998). The consolidation of post-autocratic democracies: A multi-level model. Democratization, 5(3), 33–67.
Mihăilescu, V. (2012, February 2–8). Generatia revoltei creative. Delimma veche, 416.
Presada, F. (2012). Case study on the Romanian protests. Bucharest: The Resource Center for Public Participation.
Rammelt, H. (2018). Activistes Protestataire en Hongrie et en Roumanie. Paris: L’Harmattan.
Rupnik, J. (2018). The crisis of liberalism. Journal of Democracy, 29(3), 24–38.
Soare, S. (2006). Les parties et le système de partis politiques en Roumanie à la veille de l’élargissement de 2007. Synergies Roumanie, 1, 76–88.
Stoiciu, V. (2012, February 22). Cine protesteaza in Romania de azi? CriticAtac.
Thomassen, B. (2009). The uses and meaning of liminality. International Political Anthropology, 2(1), 5–28.
Thompson, J. B. (2011). Shifting boundaries of public and private life. Theory, Culture & Society, 28(4), 49–70.
Tomini, L. (2018). When democracies collapse: Assessing transitions to non-democratic regimes in the contemporary world. Abingdon and New York: Routledge.
Turner, V. (1967). The forest of symbols: Aspects of Ndembu ritual. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.
Turner, V. (1969). The ritual process: Structure and anti-structure. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Turner, V. (1974). Dramas, fields, and metaphors: Symbolic action in human society. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.
van Stekelenburg, J., & Klandermans, B. (2013). The social psychology of protest. Current Sociology Review, 61(5–6), 886–905.
Varga, M., & Freyberg-Inan, A. (2015). Post-communist state measures to thwart organized labor: The case of Romania. Economic and Industrial Democracy, 36(4), 677–699.
Willemez, L. (2013). Apprendre en militant: contribuer à une économie symbolique de l’engagement. In P. Vendramin (Ed.), L’engagement militan (pp. 51–65). Louvain: Presses Universitaires de Louvain.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Gubernat, R., Rammelt, H.P. (2020). Liminality and Activism: Conceptualising Unconventional Political Participation in Romania. In: Lamond, I., Moss, J. (eds) Liminality and Critical Event Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40256-3_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40256-3_13
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-40255-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-40256-3
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)