New municipalisms in post-Yugoslav spaces: democratic ruptures in Zagreb and Belgrade

Revista CIDOB d'Afers Internacionals_123
Publication date: 12/2019
Author:
Norma Tiedemann, investigadora predoctoral y ayudante de investigación, Departamento de Ciencia Política y Teoría Política, Universität Kassel
Download PDF

 As formally democratic political systems around the world become authoritarian neoliberal regimes, counter-movements are emerging in the form of municipalist platforms. In this context, the post-Yugoslav space is witnessing the confluence of protests that produce initiatives of this type, for example in Zagreb and Belgrade. These practices can only be understood when looking at specific local conditions and general structural conditions. In this paper, the emergence of new municipalisms in both cities is the starting point for analysing a specific set of contradictions and initiatives. They in turn form part of a broader development framed by the turbulence of the ten years that followed the crisis and which potentially represent democratic ruptures in neoliberal authoritarian nation-states. This paper therefore investigates their societal conditions of existence and the role state apparatuses can play as the settings for emancipatory struggles.

Keywords: Zagreb, Belgrade, municipalism, post-Yugoslavia, democracy, capitalism, materialist state theory, social movements

DOI: doi.org/10.24241/rcai.2019.123.3.93

>> The full text articles of this issue are available only in Spanish language

How to cite this article: Tiedemann, Norma. «Nuevos municipalismos en espacios posyugoslavos: rupturas democráticas en Zagreb y Belgrado». Revista CIDOB d’Afers Internacionals, n.º 123 (diciembre de 2019), p. 93-118. DOI: doi.org/10.24241/rcai.2019.123.3.93