Sustaining Civil Society in the Context of Multiple Crises: Hubs of Engagement in Central and Eastern Europe and Sweden

Basic research , Civil society

2023 - 2028

Provider	The Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies
Programme	Research grant
Project code	22-GP-0001
Participnats	Södertörn University Stockholm (coordinator), Faculty of Social Sciences Charles University, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Polytechnic University of Turin, KRTK Center for Economic and Regional Studies, Hungary
Principal investigator	Ass. Prof. Dominika V. Polanska

This project sets out to comparatively analyze civil society’s resilience and resourcefulness in Poland, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Czechia, and Sweden. It starts with examining the genealogies of the existing local/national/global crises, which include issues related to the economy, housing, the climate, food, the pandemic, and gender equality, and focuses on analyzing how people respond to these crises collectively. We ask: How does civic action emerge and develop over time in the face of multiple crises and exclusions? How do activists manage to (re)kindle and sustain civic engagement, how do they build multi-scalar solidarities under adverse conditions, and how does this transform their life-stories and affective responses? How alliances, cooperation and central relationships are built in contemporary civil societies, with whom and what role these relationships play? What can we learn about the emergence and development mechanisms of mobilization and civic actions from comparisons of differential patterns and interconnected trajectories?

The project is running between 2023 and 2028, is financed by the Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies, and is located at the department of Social Work at the School of Social Sciences. The project consists of an international and transdisciplinary research team.