"Popular" and "Citizens" Movements in East Central Europe. the Case of Romania

Since early 2010 democratically held elections have generated new political majorities and relatively stable governments in East Central Europe. Hungary, Poland and Romania are among the countries in the region that follow this path. However, a number of authors have pointed out that against this apparently democratic change illiberal civil societies and public policies have actually developed. This paper tries to assess what is the impact of the newly emerged social movements. It starts with a review of the political process theory and explores to what extent a paradigm shift from contention to convention has been occurred in the former communist countries. Whereas the governments have had to balance between being domestically responsive and internationally responsible, civil societies have become more divergent and a certain polarization between left-wing (occupy) and right-wing (populist) movements has occurred as well,