This book examines a dramatic rise of nonviolent youth movements on the eve of national elections in Eastern Europe.

This dynamic Handbook offers state-of-the-art analysis of the new generation of youth activists who are demanding change. Bringing together eminent scholars, rising academic stars and youth activists, this Handbook provides a unique and essential insight into the power of youth activism today.

With Russian shells raining on Kyiv and tanks closing in, American forces prepared to evacuate Ukraine's leader. Just three years earlier, his apparent main qualification had been playing a president on TV. But Volodymyr Zelensky reportedly retorted, 'I need ammunition, not a ride.' Ukrainian forces won the battle for Kyiv, ensuring their country's independence even as a longer war began for the southeast. You cannot understand the historic events of 2022 without understanding Zelensky. But the Zelensky effect is less about the man himself than about the civic nation he embodies: what makes Zelensky most extraordinary in war is his very ordinariness as a Ukrainian. The Zelensky Effect explains this paradox, exploring Ukraine's national history to show how its now-iconic president reflects the hopes and frustrations of the country's first 'independence generation'. Interweaving social and political background with compelling episodes from Zelensky's life and career, this is the story of Ukraine told through the journey of one man who has come to symbolize his country.

Two decades have now passed since the revolutions of 1989 swept through Eastern Europe and precipitated the collapse of state socialism across the region, engendering a period of massive social, economic and political transformation. This book explores the ways in which young people growing up in post-socialist Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union negotiate a range of identities and transitions in their personal lives against a backdrop of thoroughgoing transformation in their societies. Drawing upon original empirical research in a range of countries, the book's contributors explore the various freedoms and insecurities that have accompanied neo-liberal transformation in post-socialist countries - in spheres as diverse as consumption, migration, political participation, volunteering, employment and family formation - and examine the ways in which they have begun to re-shape different aspects of young people's lives. In addition, while 'social change' is a central theme of the issue, all of the chapters in the collection indicate that the new opportunities and risks faced by young people continue both to underpin and to be shaped by familiar social and spatial divisions, not only within and between the countries addressed, but also between 'East' and 'West'. This book was originally published as a special issue of Journal of Youth Studies.

This volume covers how regime changes, political movements and nonviolent unrest develop and then shape the political decisions of both civil society and the state. Chapter discussions include the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland, youth movements in Post-Communist states, and the efforts of nonviolent INGOs.

From Afghanistan to Zimbabwe the world has witnessed a rising tide of contentious elections ending in heated partisan debates, court challenges, street protests, and legitimacy challenges. In some cases, disputes have been settled peacefully through legal appeals and electoral reforms. In the worst cases, however, disputes have triggered bloodshed or government downfalls and military coups. Contentious elections are characterized by major challenges, with different degrees of severity, to the legitimacy of electoral actors, procedures, or outcomes. Despite growing concern, until recently little research has studied this phenomenon. The theory unfolded in this volume suggests that problems of electoral malpractice erode confidence in electoral authorities, spur peaceful protests demonstrating against the outcome, and, in the most severe cases, lead to outbreaks of conflict and violence. Understanding this process is of vital concern for domestic reformers and the international community, as well as attracting a growing new research agenda. The editors, from the Electoral Integrity Project, bring together scholars considering a range of fresh evidence– analyzing public opinion surveys of confidence in elections and voter turnout within specific countries, as well as expert perceptions of the existence of peaceful electoral demonstrations, and survey and aggregate data monitoring outbreaks of electoral violence. The book provides insights invaluable for studies in democracy and democratization, comparative politics, comparative elections, peace and conflict studies, comparative sociology, international development, comparative public opinion, political behavior, political institutions, and public policy.

Political Parties in Post-Communist Eastern Europe is the first textbook to survey the course of party developments in eastern Europe as a whole in the post-Communist period. This book relates the specifics of the post-communist situation to the broader picture of the early stages of party development in western Europe and also to contemporary models of party organisation in established democracies. The book includes: · a brief historical introduction to the context of post-communist change · the process of competitive party formation and democratic elections · the development of independent parties; their ideologies, and electoral volatility · the structure and level of organisation developed by new parties · an analysis of stable party systems which have emerged in eastern Europe and the contribution they make to emerging democracies in the region Party Politics in Post-Communist Eastern Europe will be a comprehensive and invaluable resource, accessible to undergraduates of politics and European studies, as well as the non-specialist reader.

Authoritarian Russia has adopted five strategies to preserve the Kremlin's political power: insulate, bolster, subvert, redefine and coordinate. Thomas Ambrosio examines each of these in turn, all of which seek to counter or undermine regional democratic trends both at home and throughout the former Soviet Union. Policies such as these are of great concern to the growing literature on how autocratic regimes are becoming more active in their resistance to democracy. Through detailed case studies of each strategy, this book makes significant contributions to our understandings of Russian domestic and foreign policies, democratization theory and the policy challenges associated with democracy promotion.

The environmental crisis in Eastern Europe - air and water pollution, toxic waste dumps, and unsafe nuclear facilities - has been vividly documented since the revolution of 1989. Not only did the communist states have an abysmal record of environmental destruction, but the issue of environmental protection and safety proved to be one of the msot powerful catalysts of unified opposition to these regimes. This collection of essays by both Western and East European experts examines the efforts to develop strategies for dealing with the crisis, both by governments and at the grassroots level of newly emerging Green movements. Among the countries represented here are Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Lithuania, Slovenia and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

From Libya in the east to the Gulf peninsula in the west, the 'Arab Spring' has shaken entrenched regimes. Decades-old dictatorships have fallen after mass protests. Whilst the final outcome is unclear, the historical importance of these events is beyond doubt. Farhad Khosrokavar contextualizes the demands of the protesters. He looks beyond the Arab world to show how the movements are leaving a deep imprint on countries like Iran and how a new conception of democracy is emerging in the region, challenging traditional ideas. Looking to the future, Khosrokavar discusses how the new movements may change the world.