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Extant research on social movements has highlighted activists' discursive tactics to challenge the state, yet little analytical attention focuses on elite efforts to dominate the discourse arena through the deployment of oppositional frames. This paper analyzes elite oppositional framing surrounding the placement of a highway bypass in the Czech Republic. Our research examines how democratic states deploy oppositional frames and enlist elite countermovement support for their efforts to obstruct challenges. Using a range of data sources, we delineate the mechanisms used by these elite actors to vilify and stigmatize environmental activists, paving the way for more violent forms of public harassment. The concept we initiate, discursive obstruction, adds the critical dimension of power relations to analyses of both framing processes and discursive opportunity structures. We conclude by discussing the implications of our results for social movement research. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

To demonstrate the role of space and time in social movements, the paper analyses the evolution and context of the environmental movement in the Czech and Slovak republics from 1948 to 1998. It shows that the movement's identity was formed under socialism and that political opportunity and resource availability changed markedly over time, as did its organisational and spatial structure. The movement played a significant part in the collapse of the socialist regime, but in the 1990s was marginalised in the interests of building a market economy and an independent Slovakia. Nevertheless a diverse and flexible range of groups existed by the late 1990s. The successive space-times allow analysis of the multiple and changing variables that influence the geography of social movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past years, studies on post-Communist transformations in Eastern and Central Europe have expanded their focus beyond political parties. They increasingly take into consideration the constitution of social actors and the field of interests groups. Nevertheless, this type of research essentially deals with economic interest groups and thereby analyses the relationship between society and the State through the lens of economic re-structuring. Another way to apprehend relations between the State and society is through the civil society approach. This paper suggests that the constitution of collective social actors reveals how a general interest is defined in a context characterised by political, economical and social changes and at the same time by the adoption of international and European norms. In the case of post-socialist societies, this process of defining general interests can be described as a construction of causes, whereas before 1989, societal interests were defined and imposed from above. The construction of the environmental issue in the Czech Republic constitutes an interesting vantage point from which to observe the interactions between a set of actors holding different perceptions of the environmental issue, which produces a non-definitive definition of the cause. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Emotions can play an important role in the perception of grievances, yet we know little about how environmentalists strategically utilize emotions to bolster activism and garner support. Drawing on social movement and environmental sociological research, we analyze how moral shocks can be used to mobilize activists against environmentally destructive activities. We study the case of Libkovice, Czech Republic, where environmentalists battled against the coal industry to save a city from being razed to access coal reserves. The data come from in-depth interviews, organizational and documentary video, and archival documents. Findings indicate that environmentalists drew upon symbols of destruction, such as threats to the local church, to fuel anger and mobilize the campaign. Results show how symbolic environmental campaigns can serve as beacons for future protest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Direct actions constitute an important repertoire of action for environmental movements in Western countries. This article differentiates two ideal types of this repertoire of action: the anarchist concept, which understands direct action in terms of values and as a preferred way of doing things; and the liberal concept, which uses direct action in an instrumental way. Based on my empirical research in post-socialist Czech Republic, the article focuses on debates over environmentalism and, to be more precise, on uses of direct actions by environmental organizations. It explains why the liberal concept was very limited and why direct action as a preferred way of doing things has not become a part of the repertoire of collective action. The article argues that the movement was politically moderate due to a combination of reasons: the very specific historical experience of the Czech environmental movement, which inclines it to use dialogue rather than confrontations with power; the fear of political hostility and marginalization by the state; and the internal dynamics of the environmental milieu. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European environmental economic accounts are built in the Czech Republic by the Czech Statistical Office (CSO). This article summarizes the work which has been performed by the CSO over the last decade to provide necessary data for environmental economic accounts. The work was commenced in 2003, when the Environmental protection expenditure project was carried out. This was followed by NAMEA air emissions and Material flow accounts projects in 2005, and by Environmental goods and services sector and Environmental taxes projects, finished in 2011. The article describes data sources and methods that were used to provide indicators of above mentioned accounts. Some examples of the use of data are presented in the form of charts or tables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From an examination of the impact of international civil-society-building programmes on Czech environmental movement organisations (EMOs), it is clear that international influence left a deep imprint on eastern European civil societies. It did not however curb opportunities for environmental political activism, as supposed by an important part of the traditional scholarship, but instead helped create a particular form of activism based on advocacy organisations capable of staging political protest when necessary. While international donors have clearly channelled activist organisations towards professionalisation, this process has not necessarily been accompanied by de-politicisation and de-radicalisation of activist organisations. In fact, drawing on quantitative as well as qualitative data, employing protest event analysis and the small-N comparative method, it appears that activists dependent on foreign funding have often displayed a more assertive stance in political conflicts than their domestically embedded counterparts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies the internet media communication of 12 organizations representing Czech trade union, feminist, human rights and environmental movements. Drawing on Foucault's concept that discourse has a formative influence resulting in a specific system of statement allocation, the study investigates the discursive characteristics of activists' communication. The research is methodologically based on a quantitative exploration of co-occurrences of frequent lexical items. The computer-assisted text analysis reveals an important characteristic of the communication - an internal split in two discursive areas: on the one hand, the 'conditions area', dedicated to phrasing the existential conditions of subjects of contest or protection, and, on the other hand, the 'contention area', referring to strategies and negotiation with movement opponents. In the study's interpretation, the discourse constrains activist organizations to communicate both about the life conditions of actors/subjects and about their claims and negotiations, but in large measure separately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article contributes to a growing literature critiquing non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as civil society in post-communist Europe. From the perspective of the Czech environmental movement, although over a decade of foreign assistance and know-how transfer has resulted in a tier of professional NGOs that have obtained political influence at the elite level, these organizations have made little progress in rooting themselves in society at large. This gives rise to the claim that what exists today are NGOs without civil society. It is argued that, in light of the withdrawal of large American donors since May 2004 and EU accession, NGOs need to make links with the enmeshed community-based organizations that have emerged in recent years and focus much more on fund-raising and developing sustainable strategies for their future development. Fifteen years after communism collapsed, it is time to take stock of what has evolved under the banner of civil society, particularly in a state where the concept has been fiercely debated. At a theoretical level, it is argued that, in order to assess the capacity of NGOs to fulfil the democratic functions of civil society, we need first to acknowledge the ideological rationale that has dictated their development. It is only by returning to a more normative understanding of the concept of civil society that we gain a critical insight into the apparent disconnection between NGOs and society and their limited capacity to mobilize popular support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Challenges the depiction of generalized trends within the Czech environmental movement by considering the extent to which professionalism and 'Europeanization' have become endemic features of environmental movement organizations (EMO). Types of EMO; Factors that have influenced the theory and practice of environmental politics in the Czech Republic; Analysis of the evolution of environmental movement in the Czech Republic; Discussion on the political role, function and strategies of EMO; Problems associated with the application of the political process approach to the study of EMO activity.