IZMEĐU SCILE I HARIBDE: CIVILNO DRUŠTVO U SRBIJI PROTIV POLITIČKOG AUTORITARIZMA I EKONOMSKOG NEOLIBERALIZMA
BETWEEN SCYLLA AND CHARYBDIS: CIVIL SOCIETY IN SERBIA AGAINST POLITICAL AUTHORITARIANISM AND ECONOMIC NEOLIBERALISM

Summary/Abstract: The subject of this paper is the sociopolitical crisis that followed the collapse of a train station canopy in Novi Sad on November 1, 2024. The paper is historical and theoretical in its character and seeks to attain several goals. The first part considers the structural factors that have generated an acute crisis in Serbia, whereby we draw parallels with the dissolution of Yugoslavia. Our goal is to show that at the basis of the current crisis in Serbia are the same factors that caused the dissolution of the Yugoslav federation. The second part of the paper analyses the student and civil protests, and our intent is to show that this phenomenon represents a typical case of civil society combating a repressive state. It is our opinion that the protest movement has not emerged solely as a reaction to political authoritarianism, but also as a direct response to the devastating consequences of neoliberal economic policies that have been implemented in Serbia for almost three decades. Therefore, the current escalation of tensions is viewed in a Polanyian manner, as the self-protection of society against the excesses of a free market. The third part focuses on the response of the state apparatus to the student-led social rebellion. A few possible political trajectories in the foreseeable future are considered in the concluding part of the paper.

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