This year in Serbia has been marked by student blockades and civil protests that encouraged a wider social struggle for institutional accountability, rule of law, university autonomy and solidarity building among diverse social groups. Considering these developments, as well as the recent events in Georgia, Turkey, France, Greece, and the global challenges after the election of Donald Trump as the president of the USA, the title of this year’s conference is “Institutions as Battlegrounds: State Capture, Resistance and Academic Freedom under Siege”.
The aim of the conference is to explore challenges and contestations both within and against institutions in different geopolitical and geo-economic contexts as well as to assess expectations of progressive social change and justice that struggles for institutions have inspired in various social actors (citizens, students, activists).
We particularly welcome comparative research drawing connections between protests in different political settings across the world, as well as analyses of direct democracy mechanisms in various national and regional contexts. We seek to learn from these diverse experiences and understand their implications for resistance and institutional transformation.
The conference will feature two keynote addresses:
Pippa Norris, Harvard University (USA) (online)
Donatella della Porta, The Scuola Normale Superiore (Italy)
Deadline for paper and panel submissions is July 15, 2025. More information can be found here:
http://www.upns.rs/en
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