13. Liminality and Activism: Conceptualising Unconventional Political Participation in Romania

Romanian society transitioned from an apathetic political culture to one in which protesting became a constant component. This chapter analyses the effects of regime transformation, cultural consumption, and social media activism on protest participation in Romania. Analysing the passage from non-involved individuals to politically active citizens, Turner’s (1967, 1969, 1974) liminality, is particularly valuable for understanding societies that undergo sociocultural transitions. It discusses this paradigm shift by focussing on the transition states of protest participants, not structural shifts. ‘Liminality and Activism. Conceptualizing Unconventional Political Participation in Romania’ concludes that this regime change provoked an almost permanent liminality; between new rules and the old order, with no resolution. This ‘in-betweenness’ is a reason why recent protests in Romania do not deliver a critique of existing configurations of power, but rather embrace models of “Western liberal democracy”.