The mass-scale, social unrest of Ukraine’s EuroMaidan protests made world headlines in 2014. The political consequences of the protests are well documented. However, important questions remain concerning the nature of the social protest and the facilitating factors that led to mass, public, and sometimes violent contestation. Questions also arise about the impact of Ukraine’s mass protests on social movements and public contention in neighbouring countries such as Russia and Moldova.

This panel explores the complex issues of social mobilisation before, during and after these seismic events, in order to understand more fully the social dynamics of mobilisation. Comparative perspectives on Ukraine, Russia and Moldova are used to examine differing patterns of public contention, and to explain the relative absence of social mobilisation in Russia in the wake of the EuroMaidan protests.  

The papers of this panel therefore fit the Ukrainian, Russian and Modovan cases within existing theoretical perspectives on contentious politics, social movements and civil society. However, the specificities of these cases are also used to illuminate and situate regional peculiarities.  Additionally, the papers draw attention to longer-term consequences of the EuroMaidan protests and their impact on future forms of civil society and social contention in all three countries.