Novel Forms of Civic Resistance to Hybrid Regimes at the European Outskirt: From Ukraine and Bosnia to Georgia and Serbia

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

Democratic backsliding is a global phenomenon, which has hit countries of Western Balkans and Eastern Neighborhood quite hard. Stuck in the EU antechambers, and hit by its enlargement fatigue, they were more vulnerable both to external pressures and internal power grab. Not only indexes of political and media freedom, but also economic and even demographic indicators were (and still are) reflecting the crisis of significant proportion, adding to the sentiment of despair. In such circumstances, it came as a surprise that quite unique forms of resistance to hybridization evolved in these countries. Their "trademark" was a grass root element, which brought back the citizens as active actors to the political field, basically sidetracking the existing, thoroughly delegitimized institutions.This wave of unrest started with Euromaidan in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities in late 2013, emerging in Bosnia in 2014, was lambently reoccurring in Serbia since 2018, reaching its acute stage in late 2024. Same can be said about Georgia. What is the meaning of these protests, what are their causes and consequences? Are they interrelated, or should they be? How successful is their challenge to the regime and what are their capacities to reclaim the hijacked institutions? Our panel will reflect on this novel forms citizens participation in political processes which occurs at the European outskirt exactly at the time of the global swing toward more authoritarian forms of governance.

Sub Unit

• International Relations, Security Studies, Foreign Policy

Chair

• Predrag J. Markovic, Inst for Contemporary History (Serbia)

Papers

• Forms of Civic Resistance in Bosnia since 2014: Manifestations and Limitations - Valida Repovac Nikšić, U of Sarajevo (Bosnia-Herzegovina)

• 'The Festival of Belgrade': From the Novi Sad Tragedy to Mass Uprisings against the Hybrid Regime of Vucic/SNS - Morten Bøås, Norwegian Inst of International Affairs (Norway); Luka Filipovic, Inst for Contemporary History (Serbia); Kristian Lefdal, Norwegian Inst of International Affairs (Norway)

• Survival and Civicness Traversing Militarized Borders: The Networks Conducting Evacuations from Occupied Territory in the Shadows of Russian Power - Sophie Gueudet, Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies (Italy) / PeaceRep (Ukraine); Luke Cooper, London School of Economics and Political Science (UK)

Discussant

• Vladimir Petrovic, NIOD Inst for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies (Netherlands)