Strategic capacity in the context of the European multilevel polity: post-accession environmental protest in the Czech Republic.

This paper examines the development of environmental activism in the Czech Republic since the country joined the European Union (EU) in 2004. We argue that even under similar contextual conditions political activists come up with and develop their course of action and strategies on the basis of their strategic capacity and do not necessarily follow a uniform pattern determined by the given contextual settings. In this respect, in addition to bringing a new analysis of post-accession activism in the Czech Republic, the article argues for an actor-centred understanding of political activism and social movements. Since the field of social movement studies is still dominated by the structuralist understanding of activism, this forms a relevant contribution to the discipline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]