The strength of face-to-face contacts, personal ties, and institutional links in building democracy: The case of dissident movement in eastern europe

Although there are many journalistic accounts of ongoing political events narrating about pro-democratic or antiauthoritarian movements, such as strikes, riots, and protest letters, not many scholarly analyses devote attention to the longitudinal analysis of the preceding events that lead to a spur of protests. Not many scholars account or are able to account for the activity of political dissidents that is often hidden, purposely censored, and covered from public eye. Most frequently, until the street strike and riots, the degree of spread of dissident activity within a country is unknown to scholars. It is equally difficult to find information about the national and international networks that political activists form to gain support and acceptance of their acclamations, propositions, and calls for political or economic reforms. Furthermore, only access to dissident press allows researchers to glimpse the activity of existing organizations looking at issues censored by existing governments.