Competitive authoritarianism and popular protest: Evidence from Serbia under Milošević

Abstract

This article explores the relationship between competitive authoritarianism and popular protest. Building upon comparative regime analysis and social movement research, it argues that this hybrid regime type facilitates popular protest by providing opposition forces with considerable institutional resources to organize themselves and confront regime elites, along with grievances that provide strong incentives for popular challenges. In turn, popular protest may trigger regime crisis and extract important concessions from regime incumbents. In the long run, popular politics strongly shapes the interests, identities and capacities of regime elites and opposition forces, as well as the regime's formal and/or informal institutions, and may lead to government change and/or regime change. Evidence is provided from Serbia under Milošević, which

Visual metaphor and authoritarianism in Serbian political cartoons

“…Milošević used nationalism instrumentally to gain public support at the time of federal and multinational Yugoslavia’s bloody collapse and suppressed opposition parties and civil society. Large waves of popular mobilization broke out against the regime in 1991, 1992, 1996–1997, 1999 and 2000, which ultimately booted Milošević out of power (see Vladisavljević, 2008; 2016). The regime change pushed the country strongly in the direction of democracy, economic reform, regional co-operation and EU integration, and the new democracy survived several highly contested election cycles.…”

Visual framing of the protest Against the dictatorship

“…Akademska istraživanja u Srbiji bavila su se protestima pre svega iz ugla psihologije, sociologije i politikologije (Babović et al, 1997;Čupić, 1998;Ku-zmanović, 2003;Popadić, 2003;Vladisavljević, 2011;2014a), dok je relativno malo istraživanja koja su protestima pristupala iz komunikološke perspektive (Dragić et al, 2003;Babović et al, 2017;Krstić, Parry & Aiello, 2017). S obzirom na značaj unutrašnjeg i spoljašnjeg komuniciranje demonstranata za realizaciju ciljeva protesta, proučavanje medijatizovane i neposredne komunikacije, oko i unutar protesta, neopravdano je zanemareno.…”

Political image of the world in the election poster in Serbia from 1990 to 2017

“…CM : Communication and Media XIII(43) 29-48 © 2018 CDI stikom novouspostavljenog višepartijskog sistema -apsolutnom dominacijom jedne partije u društvu i na političkoj sceni Srbije, nasuprot kojoj se nalazila razjedinjena opozicija, sklona "neprirodnim" koalicijama i radikalnim prepozicioniranjima. Slično je i posle parlamentarnih izbora iz 2012. godine, s tim što je na vlasti stabilna i ideološki "neprirodna" koalicija na čelu sa dominantnom partijom, hegemonom na partijskoj sceni (Pavlović & Antonić, 2007;Jovanović, 2008;Orlović, 2008;Vučićević, 2016;Vladisavljević, 2016).…”