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A new protest culture in Western Europe?

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European View

Abstract

Given that the huge protest waves of 1968, the early 1980s and 1989–1990 can now be regarded as past history in European democracy, the question now is whether a new protest culture is emerging in Western Europe. New protest literature has reached the top of bestseller lists, giving some evidence of ‘citizens in anger’. The new face of protest today is influenced by political agendas in reaction to recent parliamentary and governmental actions. In fact, although confidence in legislatures and governments is decreasing, there is no general distrust of coherent polities within European national systems. European representative democracies may come under civic pressure in future unless some new means of significant participation are created.

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Correspondence to Florian Hartleb.

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Hartleb, F. A new protest culture in Western Europe?. European View 10, 3–10 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12290-011-0158-2

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