‘Rocking the vote’: new forms of youth organisations in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union

This paper explores the social change and political engagement witnessed in several former socialist countries, devoting special attention to youth (or student) movements in Georgia and Ukraine. In particular, it explores the relationship between those youth movements and the so-called colour revolutions, suggesting that these revolutions boosted political opportunities for youth movements. By seizing those political opportunities, informally organised groups have been able to become formalised and more active in their respective societies. This explains why such youth movements have sometimes been perceived as being created overnight while, this article argues, they were only hidden and ready to emerge when opportunities emerged.