CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020
| Author | Tóth, Réka |
|---|---|
| Title | Grassroots Activism in Budapest: Participatory Politics Challenging Urban Neoliberalism |
| Summary | The 2019 Hungarian municipal elections signaled a surprising shift in the country’s previously stagnant politics. The many, diverse opposition parties cooperated and ran together to defeat the ruling far-right Fidesz party in many main cities, including Budapest. In my thesis I focus on the 8th District of Budapest where an independent candidate from a local grassroots movement won the district mayor’s position on a progressive platform, advocating for housing rights, the protection of green spaces, and public cleanliness, designed in dialogue with the community. I analyze the development of the grassroots activist network in the district, unusual for Hungary, and the electoral campaign that led to the conquest of the municipality. In dialogue with the literature on urban neoliberalism and its alternatives - with a particular attention to grassroots urban movements emerging in CEE after 2008 – I consider the opportunities and challenges of this emerging new urban politics in Budapest. In doing so, I focus on the process in which an emancipatory politics came to confront authoritarian neoliberal governance. Through my analysis I argue that locally based, everyday forms of struggle can challenge previously stable political practices, but in doing so they also must face many serious challenges. |
| Supervisor | Zentai, Violetta; Kowalski, Alexandra, |
| Department | Sociology MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2020/toth_reka.pdf |
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