The Revival of the Left in the Balkans

Book excerpt: This book explores how the critical discursive breakthrough of social movements in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia disrupted the post-socialist transitional status quo. While critical ideas have long fueled social and political actions, the specifics of their relationship with activism have received limited scholarly attention. This book discusses the emergence of new left actors through the lens of a maturation of consciousness, rather than the opening of structural or other “windows of opportunity,” suggesting the potential for such actors to emerge stemmed from the exposure of a segment of the populace to critical ideas. Questions surrounding the relevance of different types of knowledge in contemporary movements, their origins, dissemination, and the organizational factors shaping their adoption within social movement collectives are central to this work as the author digs into the intricate relationship between critical knowledge and activism, explores the cognitive underpinnings of critical social and political engagement, and examines the influence of both non-theoretical and theoretical knowledge. This book will be of great value to postgraduate students and scholars in social sciences, particularly those studying social movements and Eastern and Southeastern European politics.