Romania—Democratic Change and Protest Movements

The chapter explores the complex dynamics between protest and politics in post-2010 Romania and the relationship between the evolution of civil society and the transformations at the political level. Following the chronology of protest events, the chapter’s main goal is to examine the outcomes of political contestation, social movements, and political participation along two dimensions—intended/unintended and immediate/gradual outcomes. It uses a mixed-theoretical framework, integrating the political opportunity structures approach and social movement impact theory to study five of the most significant protest movements from 2011 until 2018. It seeks to make a contribution to the underdeveloped literature on the outcomes of protest movements in Central and Eastern Europe by focusing on the Romanian case. The chapter reveals that the outcomes of the five waves of demonstrations can be included in four categories—immediate-intended outcomes, gradual-intended outcomes, immediate-unintended outcomes, and gradual-unintended outcomes—which shape the intricate relationship between participants’ claims and their impacts on social and political levels.