Several central and eastern European countries have experienced democratic erosion of different kinds. While the Czech Republic and Poland have faced democratic backsliding, for example, others, such as Bulgaria and Romania, are better characterized as struggling with democratic stagnation. Regardless of the type of democratic erosion, robust protest movements have challenged democratic erosion. What motivates protestors who face different types of democratic erosion to take to the streets? What kinds of political and institutional changes do they seek? In this article, we theorize that protestors experiencing democratic backsliding prioritize changing the government or changing the political practices that have developed over the last decade. By contrast, protestors facing democratic stagnation emphasize the need to change long-standing institutions and practices that have existed since the country transitioned to democracy in 1989. To test our hypotheses, we conducted original surveys of pro-democracy protestors in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Poland, and Romania. We found that protestors in states where incumbents have pursued rapid democratic backsliding prioritize changing the government or changing practices that have taken root over the last decade. By contrast, protestors living through long-standing democratic stagnation emphasize changing the practices and institutions that have emerged since the transition to democracy in 1989. Moreover, we found that in all four countries protestors had mobilized to fight democratic erosion. Also, respondents in all four countries believed that the main impact of the protests was to increase political awareness and spread information about democracy.

中文翻译：

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动员起来反对民主倒退：中东欧抗议者的动机是什么？


一些中欧和东欧国家经历了不同类型的民主侵蚀。例如，捷克共和国和波兰面临民主倒退，而保加利亚和罗马尼亚等其他国家则更容易陷入民主停滞的困境。无论民主侵蚀的类型如何，强劲的抗议运动都挑战了民主侵蚀。是什么促使面临不同类型民主侵蚀的抗议者走上街头？他们寻求什么样的政治和制度变革？在本文中，我们的理论是，经历民主倒退的抗议者优先考虑改变政府或改变过去十年发展的政治实践。相比之下，面临民主停滞的抗议者强调需要改变自 1989 年国家过渡到民主以来长期存在的制度和做法。为了检验我们的假设，我们对保加利亚、捷克共和国的亲民主抗议者进行了原始调查、波兰和罗马尼亚。我们发现，在现任者追求民主迅速倒退的州，抗议者优先考虑改变政府或改变过去十年根深蒂固的做法。相比之下，长期经历民主停滞的抗议者强调改变自 1989 年民主过渡以来出现的做法和制度。此外，我们发现在所有四个国家，抗议者都动员起来对抗民主侵蚀。此外，所有四个国家的受访者都认为抗议活动的主要影响是提高政治意识和传播民主信息。