Regime Change, State Capacity and Mass Behaviour: Southern, Central and Eastern Europe in Comparative Perspective

Abstract

This article compares four recent cases of regime transition in two different regions: southern Europe on the one hand, and central and eastern Europe on the other. Spain is coupled with Hungary, and Portugal coupled with Romania in order to address the question of variations in popular mobilization. Particular emphasis is given to the recognizing the importance of collective action and the state in transitional dynamics. While the role of the state has been neglected in democratization studies, this article shows that the moderate or transgressive nature of collective behaviour during regime change depends on the perceptions that particular social groups have of the state, which in a Weberian sense is dynamic and multidimensional.