Activisme civique, protestation et contextes politiques. Comparer la Roumanie et la Suisse Civic Activism, Protest and Political Contexts. Comparing Romania and Switzerland Section Studies

Abstract

Though taken for an important asset for democracy, the political participation changed dramatically in Western democratic contexts, over the last decades. In Switzerland, for instance, it moved from political party activism to new forms of participation, as protest activism. It is acknowledged today that by moving from conventional to unconventional forms, the political participation managed to bring in large social categories that were previously excluded, especially women. What happened in Romania during the last couple of decades? Political participation is there as uneven as it generally was in the ‘50’s, in Western contexts? Does protest in Romania differ from Western protest, especially from the Swiss case? Whereas Western protest is largely acknowledged as the continuation of participation by other means, is this the case in Romania? Or could we take protest in Romania more likely for a contestation of democratic legitimacy? The overall conclusion of this research is that protesters in Romania are very similar to their Swiss counterparts and that they are by no means a threat against the still unconsolidated Romanian democracy.