The pandemic in illiberal democracies: challenges and opportunities for social movements in Serbia

ABSTRACT

In this article, taking Serbia as a case study, we address the issue of how social movements in illiberal democracies adapted to the effects of the pandemic and the governmental responses. We show that, contrary to expectations, these social movements have intensified their activities and visibility and adapted their agenda during the crisis. Our research studies two movements dealing with socio-economic issues – the right to housing and the right to food as particularly active during pandemics. While the pandemic further constrained the possibility for collective action, these social movements have quickly shifted their priorities towards solidarity with the most vulnerable groups, engaged directly with citizens, and pragmatically approached the polarized media environment, mobilizing broad public support. This finding indicates that social movements in illiberal democracies can exhibit resilience and adaptability to rapidly changing circumstances, even though questions about their sustainability and the attainability of their goals persist.

KEYWORDS:

• Illiberalism
• social movements
• pandemics
• political opportunity structure
• Serbia

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethical approval

The Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory Ethics Committee has reviewed and approved the research design, approval no. 15022021.

Notes

1. On the variety of social movement’s activities during the pandemic, see the special issue of the journal Interface 12 (1), July 2020.

2. The groups we interviewed formally present themself as an ‘independent collective’ (Solidarity Kitchen) and an ‘informal group of people’ (The Joint Action Roof Over Head).

3. Focus group as a data collection method was important for us to investigate collective opinions by stimulating the self-reflexive capacity of the activists (Della Porta 2014), focusing on interactions that help us to discover the collective norms and meanings (Bloor et al. 2001).

4. They have not participated in any of the actions of the two selected movements.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Erasmus+ Jean Monnet Network under Grant Agreement No. [2018-1755/001-001] and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia, according to the Agreement on the realization and financing of scientific research.

Notes on contributors

Irena Fiket

Irena Fiket is a senior researcher at the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade. Her main areas of interest include citizen participation, democratic innovations, deliberative democracy, social movements, gender and the Western Balkans.

Gazela Pudar Draško

Gazela Pudar Draško is a political sociologist and the director of the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, the only social sciences and humanities research centre at the University of Belgrade. She writes on intellectual engagement, social movements and gender.

Vujo Ilić

Vujo Ilić is a political scientist and a researcher at the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade. His main areas of interest include democracy, elections, political conflicts and violence.