Following the collapse of Communist regimes in 1989, academics and dissidents alike were quick to claim that agents of ‘civil society’ had played an integral role in the 1989 ‘Velvet Revolutions’. However, the appropriation of civil society to explain events in Eastern Europe is highly problematic. In arguing that civil society offers an inappropriate framework in which to study opposition and dissent in Soviet type regimes, this article recommends dismissing the typology for this particular scenario. Instead, a new typology, the totalitarian public sphere, is introduced. This article concludes by elaborating on why the totalitarian public sphere serves as a more comprehensive typology by which to explain dissent and opposition in Soviet type regimes.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Research Division:	Studies in Human Society
Research Group:	Political Science
Research Field:	International Relations
Objective Division:	Law, Politics and Community Services
Objective Group:	Government and Politics
Objective Field:	Government and Politics not elsewhere classified
UTAS Author:	Killingsworth, ME (Dr Matt Killingsworth)
ID Code:	71117
Year Published:	2007
Deposited By:	Research Division
Deposited On:	2011-07-08
Last Modified:	2011-10-24
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