When talking about crisis of democracy and capturing the states in Southeast Europe, most often we mention: endemic corruption, partocracy, a captured institutions phenomenon, media control, and paralysis of parliamentarism.

However, in parallel with this trend – certainly largely as a response to it – we witness the emergence of new political organizing from bellow: protests and other self-organized civic initiatives that criticize the growing authoritarianism and disregarding democratic procedures. We present here the results of the comparative research as first systematic attempt to bring two strong waves of the citizens’ activism and engagement to the light in Serbia and Macedonia.

Thanks to the grant from Balkan Trust for Democracy and support from regional office of Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Dialogue Southeast Europe, we offer a contribution to closing the gap in understanding outburst, functioning and challenges of social movements in two paradigmatic countries in Western Balkans.

The project engaged significant number of academic representatives, whose efforts to bring movements closer to the institutions continues through three – year long project named Active Citizenship: Promoting and Advancing Innovative Democratic Practices in the Western Balkans, supported by European Union.

The summary of the study in English language can be found HERE.

Whole study in Serbia can be found HERE.