CIVIC SOCIETY, SOCIAL MOVEMENTS, MOBILISATION AND PROTEST IN SLOVAKIA

This study examines the emergence of two social movements as an integral part of revival of the civil society in Slovakia. It analyzes the patterns of mobilization and protests of 'Slovak National Movement' (SNM) and the 'Democratic and European Movement' (DEM), based on the civic campaign in 1998. SNM relates to the set of the organized groups loosely linked with the national agenda at the beginning of 1990s' in Slovakia. It argues that both movements are the genuine parts of civil society in Slovakia, analytically defined as the realm of organized public sphere that is voluntary, largely self-supporting, autonomous from the state, politics and private sphere and bound by a legal order or set of the shared rules. The article defines the conditions under which the social movements can emerged during transition to democracy. It analyzes 'civil society in action' and the aims to discuss the patterns of successful mobilization.