Introduction

Moments of mass mobilization, like those in Argentina (2001) and Ukraine (2004), tend to catch governments and analysts by surprise. These are moments when millions of previously disengaged ‘ordinary’ citizens 1 join activists in protests en masse , making regime change likely and systemic (social, economic or political) transformation possible. First the media, then social scientists, scramble to understand and explain the presence of ‘ordinary’ citizens, who left their private homes and entered the political arena. In recent years, we have witnessed several moments of mass mobilization and yet we still struggle to understand them. Be it in Argentina in 2001, Greece in 2007, Egypt in 2011, Turkey in 2013 or Ukraine in 2004 (or more recently in 2013), we watch as the sea of ‘ordinary’ citizens and activists floods the streets, filling up every nook and cranny of large cities and seemingly pushing aside all conventional and status quo politics in one swift swoop. We are astounded by their political courage and determination, and thus we marvel at the profound moment as it unfolds. Such exceptional moments astound us, not least because accepted theories in political science, such as those by Lichbach (2004), Muller and Opp (1986), Opp (2009), Popkin (1979), would have us believe in ‘collective action problems’ and ‘free rider’ incentives. Puzzled, we ask ourselves: How can we explain this mass mobilization?

Mass mobilization · Mobilization · Political science · Shock (circulatory) · Communism, Protests, Social Movements · Diaspora, migration, transnational identity · Law · Medicine · Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy