The role of dissident-intellectuals in the formation of civil society in (post-) communist East-Central Europe

This chapter is not going to answer the question of what was the role of intellectuals in the formation, transformation, or deformation of civil society in East-Central Europe in the transition from communism to post-communism. Instead, by avoiding unidirectional answers, I introduce the multiplicity of arguments voiced in the debate. I demonstrate how it split along the lines of civil society theory and practice, of pre– and post–1989 developments of civic activism in the region, and of divergent disciplinary approaches to the problem. On this basis, I suggest that the analysis of civil society as a frame of protest can be an insightful approach on how to research this complex question