Between Radicalism and Extremism: Street Politics in Central and Eastern Europe

This paper aims at analyzing what does it mean for groups involved in street politics (i.e. extra parliamentary politics, often including the use of Direct Action repertoire of contention) to be radical or extremist. What allows one to label groups as such, what are the determinants for such labeling?  In my opinion two issues are crucial here: the use of violence (or the will to use violence) and attitude towards democracy, understood as involvement in power plays in democratic settings (such as calls or attempts to overthrow democratic regimes and substitute them with other political models) and practices within the groups. For the left leaning groups such questions are particularly important, as most of them (radical environmentalists or anarchists) emerged in the mid-1980s, where they had to define themselves not only in opposition to the communist regimes but also situate themselves within the dissident milieu. This situation influenced the understanding of democracy, role of civil society etc. by the activists. On the other hand the alterglobalist movement that emerged in the late 1990s had to situate itself within a completely different democratic setting and was much more influenced by ideas and patterns from abroad.