Voice after Exit? Bulgarian Civic Activists between Protest and Emigration

Bibliographic Data

ID12149692
AuthorsJulia Rone (0000-0003-0937-0270, Université Libre de Bruxelles, corresponding author), Tom Junes (0000-0001-5832-2502, European University Institute)
Year2020
Volume35
Issue1
Pages226-246
Publication date2020-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEast European Politics and Societies and Cultures (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0888-3254 • E-ISSN: 1533-8371
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0888325420902246
OpenAlexW3021452438
LanguageEN
Citations received7

This article belongs to a forthcoming special cluster, “Contention Politics and International Statebuilding in Southeast Europe” guest-edited by Nemanja Džuverovic, Julia Rone and Tom Junes. Historically, civic activists who left their home countries in the wake of protests would either risk disappearing in anonymity or become engaged in political “exile networks.” However, since the outbreak of the “global wave” of protest, the ability of activists to take advantage of freedom of movement and technological advances in social media changed the framework and conditions of such “exile.” This article addresses the question of what happens when protest activists decide to go abroad to study, work, and build a life. We focus in particular on the case of Bulgaria, the fastest shrinking country in the world. On the basis of structured qualitative interviews with Bulgarian activists who have gone abroad in the aftermath of the 2013 Bulgarian protests, we trace how migration and intra-EU mobility affect the political participation of activists, the ways in which they participate, and their diagnoses of the present. In other words, we explore whether one can speak of “exit after voice,” leading in the long run to a decrease in activism. We argue instead that we are witnessing a transformation of the dichotomy “exit-voice” into a more complex scale of forms of protest organization and participation, facilitated by social media and the freedom of movement within the EU. Herein, the real risk might be not that migration leads to political passivity, but that the new “voice” found through the experience abroad remains rather marginal as activists’ networks are transformed and community building becomes a challenge in an increasingly precarious world

Bulgarian · Contentious politics · Emigration · Immigration · Media studies · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Social media · Social movement · Sociology · Diaspora, migration, transnational identity · Gender Studies · Law · Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy · Philippine History and Culture

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