CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2017
| Author | Nikolovski, Ivan |
|---|---|
| Title | What Brings Them Together? Social Movements in Divided Societies: The Case of the Republic of Macedonia |
| Summary | This thesis investigates the cross-ethnic mobilization in the Macedonian movements Studentski Plenum and #Protestiram. The study also examines the timing of the cross-ethnic mobilization and the cross-ethnic nature of the movements. Because of the lack of typology for social movements in divided societies, I label the two movements as cross-ethnic relying on Horowitz’s classification of political parties in divided societies. In answering the research question, I engage in a qualitative study based on focus groups with the movements’ activists. In conducting the research, I depart from the concepts of social networks, collective action frames, and political opportunity structures – part of the classic social movement agenda. Nevertheless, given the nature of the qualitative study, I leave the door for new hypotheses for the cross-ethnic mobilization, its timing, and the movements’ cross-ethnic nature open. In analyzing the data, I employ the method of thematic analysis. The analysis revealed that the common grievances of the activists, the pre-existing and newly-established networks, the opportune situations for and organizational learning of the movements as well as their collective identities all affected the cross-ethnic mobilization. In the case of Studentski Plenum, the reported grievances were more diverse but the grievances concerning the corrupted and partisan education. In the case of #Protestiram, the grievances regarding the unjust system in the country overcame. While in the former the overall political context in the country appeared to have activated the cross-ethnic mobilization, the latter seems to have been triggered by concrete events. The analysis disclosed further patterns –socio-economic status of the activists, mono-ethnic networks of mobilization, and the role of the political parties, which need to be additionally examined. |
| Supervisor | Bogaards Matthijs |
| Department | Political Science MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2017/nikolovski_ivan.pdf |
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