Present mobilisation is informed by past nationally & regionally

While a strong sense of democratic civic duty is key to understanding the micro-foundations of the mobilization of “ordinary citizens,” a long multi-generational history of mobilization networks becomes a blueprint for activist and social movement organization coordination.

There is a long history of civic engagement in Ukraine and Argentina and it follows closely regional patterns of mass mobilisation from 1920-2000s.

Through intra and inter regional comparative analysis the book shows how mobilizational processes are not region specific and follow common patterns across space and time.

This is the first major work to provide a historical overview of past, a well as detailed mapping and analysis of contemporary activist and social movement networks and their interaction in Ukraine (across the whole political spectrum from left to right).

The political economy of protest & a “calculus to join-in”

A good analysis of the political economy of protest must distinguish between endogenous and exogenous factors/actors as well as socio-tropic and ego-tropic variables and their role in the different stages and levels of the mass mobilization process. To do so, we must differentiate between how structural and agency based factors shape the context behind, process of, and motivations for mobilisation.

When studying actors it is necessary to so at different levels and to go beyond institutions and elite actors (that includes activist leadership) and conduct micro level analyses of ordinary citizens.

The perceptions and motivations related to the political economy of protest in democratising states differs from that in autocratic settings and is mediated by a string sense of universal rights.

This is why after a long period of “patience” ordinary citizens will make a “calculus to join-in” the protest when there is a universal civic/human right is infringed on en masse.

Interplay between national & international factors

International actors and foreign financing (IGO/NGO/GOV) are important but often second-order factors in shaping local/national mobilization processes.

At the same time, experiences of mass mobilization “successes” can turn local/national activists into international actors – who promote democracy and engagement abroad, often reaching global audiences.

National/local democratic duty and civic collective identities can be shored up/heightened through geopolitical and geo-economic crises and conflict (e.g.: Russian foreign policy towards Ukraine and global financial and currency markets in the case of Argentina).

Whilst the 2004 mass mobilization established Ukraine as a player in Euro-Atlantic cooperation and coordination, and internationalized Ukraine’s democratization, the 2001 mass mobilization in Argentina further isolated the country, leading to disengagement with key actors on the international stage (including defaulting on key international loans).

Regionally speaking, whilst 2004 made Ukraine an outlier vis-à-vis its immediate post-Soviet neighbours, the post-2001 move to the left in Argentina was part of a broad regional dynamic of the left “pink tide.”.