What Makes Civil Society Contentious? Examining Processual, Structural, and Relational Factors across 20 Countries of Central and Eastern Europe

Abstract This article develops a formal analytical framework for examining how processes, structures, and relations shape contention in civil societies across Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). By integrating country-level data from the Bertelsmann Transformation Index, Civil Society Organization Sustainability Index, and Freedom in the World with individual-level data from the European Values Study in 20 postsocialist CEE countries, the article employs multilevel analysis to examine changes in citizens’ engagement in contentious practices from 2008 to 2018. The findings show that contention increased significantly over this period. Processes (political and economic transformation) and structures (governance capacity and civic sector sustainability) are positively associated with contention, while civil liberties—more than political rights—emerge as the most consequential relational factor. The analysis further shows that civil society is neither an evenly accessible democratic arena nor a homogeneous regional formation, as contention is socially stratified and shaped by divergent socialist legacies.