POLITICAL PROTEST IN THE POSTCOMMUNIST HU NGARY BETWEEN 1989 AND 1994

Modern theories about forms of protests and social movements concern t hemselves for the most part with the experience of Western democracies . In this form, therefore, such theories are unsuited to the study of analogous phenomena in communist and postcommunist systems. Basing his work on analyses of newspaper reports, Szabo first traces the develop ment of political protests and the nature of the forms of protests see n in Hungary in the years 1989 to 1994. His second step is to identify the relevant lines of conflict and division which, at various times a nd for various reasons, have resulted in the political mobilization of different groups of people and the types of protest activities typica l for the country. During the discussion, the author directs special f ocus to the specific ''post-communist'' cleavages which have arisen ou t of the transformation process experienced in formerly socialist soci eties.