CIVILNO DRUŠTVO I POLITIKA U SRBIJI
CIVIL SOCIETY AND POLITICS IN SERBIA

Author(s): Vukašin Pavlović
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Political Theory, Civil Society
Published by: CEDET Centar za demokratsku tranziciju
Keywords: Civil society; politics; development strategy; social capital; social resource; democratic political resources; economic resources
Summary/Abstract: After the civil forces in Serbia retreated to relatively small oases of non-governmental organizations and civil initiatives in the early 1990s, a new dynamic was established in the civil fabric (moving the center of gravity of civil society activities inland), which finally created the preconditions for changes in 2000. Civil society is not only characterized by positive potentials, so it should not be hypostasized. It shares the fate of the political field, which is divided into democratic and authoritarian options. In the paper, special attention is paid to the role of civil society (in the context of the difference between domination and creation) in shaping the social development strategy. The key problem consists in abandoning reactive (short-term) strategies in favor of proactive (long-term) strategies for the change and development of society. In this sense, the answer to the question about an adequate strategy for increasing social resources (economic, social in the narrower sense of the word, cultural, political and ecological resources) is essential. In Serbia, and in other countries of the former Yugoslavia, the key moments of such an adequate strategy consist of the strategy of improving democratic political resources (which implies qualitative changes in terms of political elites) and the strategy of developing economic resources, whereby economic recovery is one of the most important items in the overall strategy of democratic changes in Serbia.

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