Social Movements in the Visegrád Countries: Conflict or Cooperation? An Empirical Analysis

Abstract

Globalization and Europeanization have significantly contributed to a change in the role of the nation states. Considering the specifics of Central and Eastern European political culture, major societal changes are most likely to be triggered by social movements. Despite numerous researches, it is still debated whether the most significant social movements of the V4 countries tend to choose the cooperative or the conflictual way as their dominant action strategy. The purpose of this paper is to examine the general tendencies of the social movements using empirical data. The study seeks answers to the following questions: a) Which norms best characterize the “stable” social order of the V4 countries? b) What kind of actors would like to bring change?
c) Is there a significant difference between the actors of the national, respectively, the EU action spheres and their dominant modes of action? The research uses data provided by the European Social Survey, GDELT (Global Data on Events, Location and Tone), and the Transparency Register of the European Union.