Rethinking citizenship: Analyses and activism in Central and Eastern Europe

Abstract

Current debates concerning the intersections of citizenship and gender are considered by examining political engagements in analysis arising from particular citizens’ interventions in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).’ In choosing to consider women's collective actions to resist violence (at home and in war) and to challenge antidemocratic policies, key aspects of state‐society relations can be considered with regard to citizens’ choices of gaining agency ‐ in representation and resistance. Something can also be learned of how certain types of political engagement are excluded from political analyses of civic engagement by not being deemed ‘political‘2 or outside the accepted discourse. Examples of active citizen participation across CEE countries assessed here include anti‐war protests and the exclusion of women's voices in determining their life choices. Issues of resistance to ethnic, nationalist and religious fundamentalism are interwoven in many of these analyses. Within feminist considerations of citizenship issues of identity, migration and rethinking the values of citizen activity and analyses are apparent. Feminist campaigns and struggles to resist, aim to overcome and eliminate varying factors which combine to oppress women. The uniting of theory and action in practice is a key feminist objective. Women activists all over the globe have been united at the end of this century in both theoretical explorations and practical engagements concerned with women gaining full citizenship and human rights. The considerations here attempt to understand some of the reasons why this is so.