Stably Polarized = Ready to Go? Dynamics of the Demand Side of Contemporary Czech Anti-System Protest Mobilization
Abstract
Tendencies towards illiberalism have engulfed the contemporary world intensively (Frankenberg, 2022), and this phenomenon is also evident in the political landscape of Central and Eastern Europe (Guasti & Bustikova, 2023; Krekó & Enyedi, 2018). The latest research has focused on this trend at the state level in countries with populist cabinets (Maatsch, 2021; Szente, 2021) or has reflected the political transformation during the COVID-19 pandemic (Bustikova & Babos, 2020; Guasti & Bustikova, 2022).
However, the post-COVID era has presented new challenges, including the energy crisis and the Russian war on Ukraine. This study explores protest mobilization in the case of Czechia, where an unprecedented number of forfeited votes accompanied the 2021 general election.
Since September 2022, resistance against the ruling cabinet has accelerated, making the new non-institutionalized actors relevant. The study aims to investigate the demand side of the recent protest mobilization in Czechia.
It examines the extent to which voters and supporters maintain stable support for (1) populist and (2) anti-system solutions. I analyze data on affective polarization and complement it with single protest events analysis (PEA, September 2022 - May 2023) to describe the character of mobilization and assess the hypothesis on "increased polarization leading to higher levels of mobilization." The research contributes to the debate through an in-depth case study focused on a country governed by an anti-populist pro-Western cabinet facing an illiberal standby threat.