Environmental movements in space‐time: the Czech and Slovak republics from Stalinism to post‐socialism

Abstract

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.

Urban Development Policy Challenges in East-Central Europe: Governance, City Regions and Financialisation

“…However, surprisingly, we can observe a movement in Bratislava similar to environmental activism in western countries, especially during the 1980s. As stated by Sarre and Jehlička (2007), the policies of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) opened up the opportunity for protest. Environmentally and ecologically oriented movements emerged in Bratislava already in the early 1980s (see e.g.…”

Discursive Framings of Low Carbon Urban Transitions: The Contested Geographies of ‘Satellite Settlements’ in the Czech Republic

“…It was frequently pointed out that the successful implementation of environmental policies and regulation would be hindered by the desire to move towards a free market, especially in terms of governing the spatial distribution of human population movements, settlement patterns, and economic activities (Musil, 1992). This is despite the fact that environmental movements had been gathering momentum throughout ECE since the mid-1980s (Sarre and Jehlicka, 2007), and there was a general expectation in 1990 that the post-communist transition would lead to the improvement of urban environmental conditions.…”

Mapping convergence points in the initial emergency response to 9/111

“…It becomes 'a space of facilitation, solidarity, communication, coordination, and information sharing' (Routledge, 2000, p. 25). As a concept, convergence space has been readily applied to social movements (Routledge, 2000(Routledge, , 2003Sarre and Jehlička, 2007;Silk, 2004), but the idea can be extended into disaster research, which also demonstrates the convergence of formal and informal organisations and volunteers. In disasters, convergence spaces help to facilitate interaction and social networks among responding organisations.…”