External help and the transformation of civic activism in Hungary

The political protest movements of the transformation period in Hungary hav e been institutionalised as political parties or in other organisational fo rms. They have become organised and formalised actors in the new democracy, while new social movements emerged with new forms of protest activities or iented to address new socio-political conflicts. Approaches to institutiona lisation processes of social movements, "movementism," specific political c ultures, and forms of action and organisation of socio-political movements were pushed back during the transformation into political organisations. Th e "estab-lished" civil society of former Communist countries strives for re sources and experiences of Western democracies. However, Western support is also based on a scarcity of resources, a fact nor realised at the time of Communist constraints, when receiving Western aid was a risky activity unde rtaken only by few groups and individuals. A competitive market for low-ris k support by Western agencies is being established. Civil society activists have to prove accountability, organisational skills, and social and media impact to be supported by Western donors. Intellectual capital and organisa tional infrastructure must be provided with managerial skills required by W estern agencies as distributors of goods and organisers of programmes. A sh ift from informal social movements to differentiated types of NGOs takes pl ace, as targets of Western aid and a compe-titive market of Eastern NGOs wi ll be established for the external help.