In recent years, and under the influence of new telecommunications and social media, citizen movements have emerged as an alternative to political party membership for citizen participation in democratic decision-making processes.

Diverse groups of citizens, often including high numbers of youth, have made an increasing impact on democratic processes in Asia and Europe. By using social media to organize and stage their protests, they manage to circumvent political parties and civil society organizations (CSOs) as the traditional entry points for political participation and representation.

A joint project of the Asia–Europe Foundation, the Hanns Seidel Foundation and International IDEA, this publication looks closely at initiatives and activities undertaken by political parties in Asia and Europe to relate to CSOs and citizen movements.

Political parties in the two regions operate in different domestic political contexts and different socio-economic conditions. Different approaches and a myriad of experiences are analysed in this book, including complete non-alignment between citizen movements and parties, as in the case of Spain; formalized political party–CSO engagement in Sweden and Norway; a watchful approach from the incumbent government toward protest movements in Vietnam; and CSOs turned political parties in India and the Philippines.

This book offers valuable lessons to any political party wishing to rebuild public confidence in a world of rapidly emerging citizen protests.