ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the manner in which rather conservative organizations have been able to gain influence over policy-making in Hungary and the Czech Republic. It shows that organizations in post-communist countries often pursue a multitude of strategies using a multitude of repertoires, rather than choosing between professionalization and mobilization. The chapter also considers the relative success of these more conservative groups, comes from their choice of strategies, which means that even feminist organizations could learn a lot from these experiences in making their own strategic choices. In Hungary, it focuses on the National Association of Large Families (NOE), since all the policy-makers and activists in women's or family organizations with whom one spoke immediately replied that this was by far the most influential organization in the field of family policies. The chapter discusses non-feminist groups that are not religious that have also managed to gain some influence on the government, in particular the Network of Mother Centers (NMC).
