Call for papers: The people and the state - Twenty-first-century protest movements in Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia

Deadline for submitting papers: July 4, 2015

Over the last 15 years, waves of protest movements have swept over Western and Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus. This themed issue explores the reasons for their emergence, their character, local impact and implications for wider regional developments. The most visible are the Salafi-jihadi movement, right-wing groups, anti-globalisation movements and social-political protests.

Papers are welcome that consider the nature of these contemporary protest movements and their membership. For example, they may consider whether they are a continuation of processes recognised in the twentieth century or whether we are dealing with new forms of protest. Explorations of the evidence for contemporary protests having new elements, for instance, of mobilisation, personal motivation, local/regional context, international visibility would be of particular interest. Have the states’ responses to recent and current protests significantly changed in comparison to earlier periods? An interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary perspective can help to understand these developments better. We welcome original articles, including theoretical and empirical, quantitative and qualitative studies of new forms of protest movements from different disciplinary perspectives.

Manuscripts should follow the usual instructions for electronic submission of papers to Contemporary Social Science. Contributions should not exceed 6000 words in length. Authors should indicate that they wish the manuscript to be reviewed for inclusion in the special issue. The Editors of this issue would be happy to review abstracts for papers in advance of their receipt. All papers will be double blind peer reviewed. The closing date for submitting papers is 4 July 2015.

Sebastian Schiek
Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy
University of Hamburg
e-mail: schiek@ifsh.de