Irena Fiket1

Gazela Pudar Draško2

Milan Urošević3

Anti-politics as culture of rejection: the case of Serbia4

1. Introduction

A widespread abstention of Serbian citizens from any kind of political participation is well
documented by previous empirical research5. The elections are perceived by citizens as a sort of
a yearly ritual and overall political life in Serbia as an endless cycle of political campaigns in
which participation of citizens seems meaningless6, not least due to the many controversies and
irregularities7 surrounding the election processes, documented by OSCE observation mission
reports8. The internal and external political efficacy of Serbian citizens is at very low levels –
they don't believe that they can understand politics9 and therefore participate in politics – while at
the same time they do not trust that the government will respond to their demands 10.
Paradoxically, there is a high involvement of citizens in political parties, which in the previous
1
Authors listed in alphabetical order with equal contribution.
Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade, fiket@instifdt.bg.ac.rs, ORCID ID: 0000-0003-3939-4089
2
Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade, gazela.pudar@instifdt.bg.ac.rs, ORCID ID: 0000-0001-
8361-4144
3
Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade, milan.urosevic@instidt.bg.ac.rs, ORCID ID: 0000-0002-
9754-0454
4
This work was supported by Volkswagen Foundation: [Grant Number 94 765].
5
Irena Fiket, Zoran Pavlović Gazela Pudar Draško, Cartography of Political Perceptions, (Belgrade: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung
2017); Jelena Pešić, Tamara Petrović Trifunović i Ana Birešev, `Politička kompetencija i konsolidacija kapitalizma u Srbiji:
analiza (ne) davanja odgovora na stavove o poželjnom političkom i ekonomskom poretku`, in Mladen Lazić i Slobodan Cvejić
(eds), Stratifikacijske promene u periodu konsolidacije kapitalizma u Srbiji (Beograd: Institut za sociološka istraživanja
Univerzitet u Beogradu 2019), 247-274; Jelena Pešić, Ana Birešev, Tamara Petrović Trifunović, `Political disaffection and
disengagement in Serbia`, Sociologija, vol. 63, no. 2, 2021, 355-380
6
Fiket et. al., `Cartography of Political Perceptions`; Vujo Ilić, Darko Stojilović, Stavovi građana Srbije o učešću u
demokratskim procesima 2020 (Belgrade: Crta 2020)
7
Besides procedural irregularities, observation missions worn about constant government directed negative campaigns towards
other political actors, heavily state controlled media and finally the pressure ruling party is putting on voters and stakeholders in
the election process.
8
Slaviša Orlović, Despot Kovačević (eds) Trideset godina obnovljenog višepartizma u Srbiji-(ne)naučene lekcije, (Beograd:
Fakultet političkih nauka Univerziteta i Centar za demokratiju Hanns Seidel Stiftung, 2020)
9
Stoiljković, Zoran. `Politički kapital i kultura (ne)poverenja: slučaj Srbija`, in: Podunavac, Milan (ed.), Ustav i
demokratija u procesu transformacije`, (Beograd: Fakultet političkih nauka, Univerzitet u Beogradu, 2011), 161-181
decade reached over 10% of the Serbian population11. This formal participation however does
not provide any kind of socialization for political participation. Namely, citizens’ engagement in
political parties is not genuine political engagement directed towards the public interest, but
political parties function as organizations through which citizens could achieve some specific
personal benefits such as relatively stable employment12. This kind of clientelism also heavily
influences the widespread political passivity of citizens 13. In fact, the majority of citizens believe
that those who are politically active are motivated by personal and not public interest 14. On the
other hand, trust in institutions, political representatives and political organizations is very low 15
and support for democracy is constantly in decline. 16 Politicians are perceived as a primary cause
of all social problems and hardships of citizens and therefore as negative and immoral17.

In addition, there is a lack of a wider experience of participation in democratic civic practices

and overall extra-institutional participation of Serbian citizens is rare18. Practically the only form
of unconventional political participation in the last decade have been anti-regime protests that
have occasionally been massive, but which only strengthened the citizens’ mistrust towards

10
Irena Fiket i Gazela Pudar Draško, `Mogućnost vaninstitucionalne političke participacije unutar neresponsivnog sistema Srbije:
uticaj nepoverenja i interne političke efikasnosti` , Sociologija, vol. 63, no. 2, 400-418
11
“Membership of the ruling SNS has grown to 730,000 members, making it the biggest party in Europe by far. In
comparison, Germany’s CDU party has ‘only’ 407,000 members, despite Germany being eleven times bigger than
Serbia”, Marren Lemstra, `The destructive effects of state Policy Brief capture in the Western Balkans EU
enlargement undermined`, (Clingendael Institute, Policy brief, 2020)
https://www.clingendael.org/sites/default/files/2020-09/Policy_brief_Undermining_EU_enlargement_Western_B
alkans_September_2020.pdf
12
Cvejić, Slobodan, `On inevitability of political clientelism in contemporary Serbia`, Sociologija, vol. 58, no. 2, 2016, 239–252,
Radejić, Branislava, Vladimir Đorđević, `Clientelism and the Abuse of Power in the Western Balkans`, Journal of Balkan and
Near Eastern Studies, vol. 22, no. 5, 2020, 1-16; Stanojević Dragan, Dragana Gundogan, Marija Babović. `Clientelistic relations
between political elite and entrepreneurs in Serbia`, Sociologija, vol. 58, no. 2, 2016, 220-238
13
Jelisaveta Petrović, Dragan Stanojević, `Political Activism in Serbia. Comparative Southeast European Studies` vol. 68, no. 3,
2020, 365-385.
14
CESID (2017) Javno mnjenje Srbije, Politicki aktivizam gradjana Srbije.
http://www.cesid.rs/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/POLITI%C4%8CKI-AKTIVIZAM-GRA%C4%90ANA-SRBIJE-2017.pdf
15
Stoiljković, `Politički kapital i kultura (ne)poverenja: slučaj Srbija`, 164
16
Bojan Todosijević, Zoran Pavlović, `Nepoverenje u demokratske institucije i podrška nedemokratskim sistemima vladavine:
populistički mehanizam` in: Zoran Lutovac (ed) Populizam, (Beograd: Institut društvenih nauka 2017), 67-85. ; Pavlović, Zoran.
`Prihvatanje demokratije i demokratske orijentacije u Srbiji u kontekstu društvenih promena`, Psihološka istraživanja vol. 13, no.
1, 2010, 35-58., Pavlović, Zoran, `Demokratska politicka kultura u Srbiji pre i posle demokratskih promena`, Nova srpska
politička misao, no. 3-4, 157-176, 2008.
17
Spasić, Ivana `Političari kao apsolutni drugi: kako građani Srbije opisuju profesionalne političke delatnike`, in:
Podunavac, Milan (ed.), Ustav i demokratija u procesu transformacije`, (Beograd: Fakultet političkih nauka,
Univerzitet u Beogradu, 2011), 185-189
18
Irena Fiket i Gazela Pudar Draško, `Mogućnost vaninstitucionalne političke participacije unutar neresponsivnog sistema Srbije:
uticaj nepoverenja i interne političke efikasnosti`, Sociologija, vol. 63, no. 2, 2021, 400-418
politicians19. Conventional political actors such as political parties were not allowed to assume
leadership of these protests, although some of them tried 20. These protests showed what we
already know from the research focused on the general population: there is a lack of trust in
political elites, politics is seen as an activity oriented towards the achievement of personal
benefits and political participation is perceived as an activity that cannot lead to the articulation
of political demands that could be achieved through institutions. 

However, despite a strong consensus in the literature about the lack of participation of Serbian
citizens in political life, lack of trust in political actors, institutions, democratic procedures and
after all, in democracy per se, we still don't have a consistent explanation about the main causes
of those phenomena. Contextual factors could probably bring us closer to understanding.
Yugoslav wars followed by delayed post-socialist transition led to structural usurpation of the
institutions producing a captured state21. Efforts to build liberal-democratic institutions died out a
decade after the fall of Milošević in 2000. Political elites constantly emphasize the impotence of
the institutions through various examples of “institutional silence” that lead to further rejection
of the political engagement22.

In our view, all those aspects we briefly listed above and for which we still don't have a robust
explanation could be seen as indicators of the phenomenon we have termed the (culture of)
rejection of politics. In conceptualizing and exploring the Serbian citizens’ rejection of politics,
we start from the literature on anti-politics 23 that has been empirically researched for a long time
and is usually loosely defined as a set of negative attitudes citizens have towards formal political

19
Benjamin Opratko, Manuela Bojadžijev, Sanja M. Bojanić, Irena Fiket, Alexander Harder, Stefan Jonsson, Mirjana
Nećak, Anders Neegard, Celina Ortega Soto, Gazela Pudar Draško, Birgit Sauer, Kristina Stojanović Čehajić , `Cultures
of rejection in the Covid-19 crisis`, Ethnic and Racial Studies, vol. 44, no. 5, 2021, 893-905
20
Miladinović, Aleksandar, `Protesti u Srbiji: Do kad se može na ulicu bez strategije `
https://www.bbc.com/serbian/lat/srbija-53391679 (accessed 01. 12. 2021.)
21
Lazić, Mladen, Čekajući kapitalizam: Nastanak novih klasnih odnosa u Srbiji, (Beograd: Službeni glasnik, 2011).
22
Srđan Prodanović, Gazela Pudar Draško i Marija Velinov (ed.) Otete institucije u Srbiji: teorija i praksa, (Beograd:
IFDT, 2019).
23
Garry Stocker, Mark Evans, `The “Democracy-Politics Paradox”: The Dynamics of Political Alienation`
Democratic Theory, vol. 1, no. 2, 2014, 26-36; David Easton, `A Re-assessment of the Concept of
Political Support`, British Journal of Political Science, vol. 5, no. 4, 1975, 435-457; David Easton, A
systems analysis of political life, (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1965); Nick Clarke, Will Jennings,
Jonathan Moss and Gerry Stoker, The Good Politician: Folk Theories, Political Interaction and the Rise of
Anti-Politics, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2018); John Boswell, Jack Corbett, `Stoic
Democrats? Anti-politics, élite cynicism and the policy process`, Journal of European Public Policy, vol.
22, no. 10, 2015, 1-18
activities24. Although we start our research from the academic discussion of anti-politics, we aim
to show that rejection of politics is a concept that offers a more adequate theoretical framework
for our empirical analyses and deeper understanding of the social phenomena we are exploring.

The goals of our paper are therefore twofold. First of all, we aim to situate the notion of anti-
politics within a broader theory of cultures of rejection, thereby redefining it as a specific culture
of rejection of the political sphere. The added value of our research is related to the focus we
have on places of social interaction which cut through different spheres of a social totality like
politics, culture or economy25. Differently from previous research on anti-politics in Serbia, in
our empirical research we depart from the workplaces of Serbian retail and logistic workers and
digital spaces that those workers usually visit and where politics and culture meet in discursive
practices of everyday life. However, methods we have used allow us only to analyze the
discursive element of this phenomenon, while additional research is necessary to bring to light
norms and practices and complete the puzzle of anti-politics as a culture of rejection.

It is important to emphasize that our research is affected by the ‘historical conjuncture’

emerging in the midst of our fieldwork – the COVID-19 pandemic crisis that allowed
executive powers to gain the upper hand over parliamentary and judicial procedures.
The decision-making power of parliaments was suspended in many countries allowing
the rule by means of decrees. In Serbia, parliament didn’t even declare a state of
emergency, as the assembly did not meet under the pretext that it is forbidden to meet
in groups26. The pandemic related politics changed after summer 2020, no curfews were
introduced ever again and measures to fight the pandemic were reduced to closing
down schools, restaurants, entertainment venues and encouraging citizens to work from
home. From the beginning of 2021. vaccination became the main topic in the
conjuncture of the pandemic. For this reason the data used in our analysis will be
complemented with the empirical material gathered in the beginning of 2021. while
researching anti-vaxx discourses online in Serbia.

24
Bernard Crick, In Defense of Politics, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1962)
25
Henri Lefebvre, Critique of Everyday Life, Volume I: Introduction (London: Verso, 1991), 42
26
Dolapčev, Vanja, `A Lack of Transparency: The COVID-19 Pandemic in Serbia ` https://cep.org.rs/en/blogs/a-lack-
of-transparency-the-covid-19-pandemic-in-serbia/ (accessed 7.6.2021.)
The paper is structured as follows: In the following section we discuss the theoretical
background of our research, the third section focuses on methodology while the fourth will
present the results of our analysis. The relevance of our findings will be discussed in the fifth,
concluding, section of our paper.

2. Anti-politics as a culture of rejection

Anti-politics remains an under-theorized concept, typically used to designate negative relation

citizens have towards political objects like leaders, institutions and the electoral process27. It is
primarily seen as a negative orientation towards politics and the political sphere – implying the
process where the political sphere is constituted as an ‘outside’, being a domain of undesirable
forms of (political) subjectivity – being the Other compared to ‘us – ordinary citizens’.

Anti-politics is now used to label everything that threatens politics as a domain of activities that
are necessary for democratic governance in plural societies28. It has been linked to the ‘crisis of
democracy’ since the mid-70s and various concepts could be derived from or merged into anti-
politics. The World Values and Eurobarometer results urged scholars to think on the citizens’
withdrawal of political support, a growing mistrust regarding leaders, the electoral process, and
institutions29. Under the heading of ‘political disaffection’, Torcal and Montero have studied
critical attitudes towards politics and representative institutions, estrangement from politics and
the public sphere, and critical evaluations of political institutions, their representatives, and the
democratic political process30. Some have gone so far as to write about ‘post-democracy’
(Jacques Rancière, Colin Crouch)31 and ‘post-politics’ (Slavoj Žižek, Chantal Mouffe) 32, where

27
Garry Stocker, Mark Evans, `The “Democracy-Politics Paradox”: The Dynamics of Political Alienation` Democratic Theory
vol. 1, no. 2, 2014, 26-36; David Easton, `A Re-assessment of the Concept of Political Support `, British Journal of Political
Science, vol. 5, no. 4, 1975, 435-457; David Easton, A systems analysis of political life, (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1965);
Nick Clarke, Will Jennings, Jonathan Moss and Gerry Stoker, The Good Politician: Folk Theories, Political Interaction and the
Rise of Anti-Politics, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2018); John Boswell, Jack Corbett, `Stoic Democrats? Anti-
politics, élite cynicism and the policy process`, Journal of European Public Policy, vol. 22, no. 10, 2015, 1-18
28
Crick, In Defense of Politics.
29
Nye, Joseph S. Jr., Philip D. Zelikow, David C. King (eds.). Why People Don’t Trust Government. (Harvard University Press
1997)
30
Torcal Mariano, José Ramón Montero. Political Disaffection in Contemporary Democracies (London: Routledge, 2006)
31
Rancière, Jacques, Hatred of Democracy; Colin Crouch, Post-Democracy, (Cambridge: Polity, 2004)
32
Žižek, Slavoj. The Ticklish Subject. (London, Verso Books 1999); Mouffe, Chantal. On the Political. (London: Routledge
2005)
anti-politics can be spotted as an important element of societal diagnosis. Apparently, the nature,
functions, and qualities attributed to anti-politics differ throughout the relevant literature and
research, ranging from distrust and disengagement, delegitimation of politics and existing
political authority, over anti-parliamentarism, anti-partitism, anti-establishment sentiment, to
outright anti-democratic sentiment33 and its perception as a democratic malaise threatening
democratic legitimacy34.

By situating anti-politics within a broader theory of cultures of rejection we aim to overcome the
under-theoretization that has plagued it so far. Cultures of rejection are seen as modes of living
that are “constituted by attitudes, values, norms and affects that reject a set of socio-cultural
objects”35. Anti-politics is here not only defined through politics as an object of rejection, but it
emerges as the intersectional regime of the attitudes, practices and affects that institutes citizens'
withdrawal from politics. This specific “regime of practice” consists of intertwined and mutually
structured discursive and non-discursive elements36. Such mode of living is constantly re-
negotiated, re-articulated and reinforced, facing local, national and global challenges, be it
pervasive clientelism in the case of Serbian society or migrant crisis “imposed” to European
societies from aside or global threat like Covid-19 pandemic. It persists even when facing the
rise of the citizens’ political mobilization or paradoxically, survives as a part of this mobilization
in discursive elements, which is why we put the focus on this discursive aspect in our analysis
below.

We will, therefore, present how these discursive elements are reproduced in everyday life, or
precisely in the social spaces defined as arrangements of individuals and their interactions 37: the
workspaces of Serbian workers and digital spaces that they usually visit and where they
congregate. In this sense, anti-politics is manifested through negative attitudes towards politics

33
Truffelli, Zambernardi, `Taking Modernity to Extremes: On the Roots of Anti-Politics`, 4
34
Vittorio Mete, `Four types of anti-politics: Insights from the Italian case`, Modern Italy, vol. 15, no. 1, 2010, 37-61: Peter
Somerville, `Understanding Community: Politics, Policy and Practice`, Journal of Social Policy, vol. 4, no. 1, 2011, 442-444;
Colin Hay, Garry Stocker, `Revitalising Politics: Have We Lost the Plot?`, Journal of Representative Democracy, vol. 45, no. 3,
2009, 225-236; Matteo Truffelli, Lorenzo Zambernardi, `Taking Modernity to Extremes: On the Roots of Anti-Politics`, Political
Studies Review, vol. 19, no. 1, 2019, 1-15
35
Harder, Alexander and Benjamin Opratko. `Cultures of rejection at work: Investigating the acceptability of authoritarian
populism`, Ethnicities, vol. 0, no. 0, 1-21
36
Foucault, Michell, `Questions of Method`, In: Faubion, James D. (ed.). Power (The Essential Works of Foucault, 1954-1984,
Vol. 3, (New York: The New Press 2001), 223-239
37
Martina Löw, The Sociology of Space: Materiality, Social Structures, and Action (New York: Palgrave Macmillan 2016), 188
and the political sphere – implying the process where the political sphere is constituted as an
‘outside’, being a domain of undesirable forms of (political) subjectivity – being the Other
compared to ‘us – ordinary citizens’.

Conceptualizing anti-politics as a specific culture of rejection of the political sphere enables us to

understand the resilience and endurance of this phenomenon over time, even in the face of
certain objective improvements within the system of institutional politics, such as, for example,
the appearance, over the last decade, of new political actors within electoral politics who have
enjoyed greater legitimacy in the eyes of ordinary social actors due to their grassroots origins or
their transformative political agendas – Syriza, Podemos, Jeremy Corbyn, Bernie Sanders or the
“We Won’t Let Belgrade D(r)own” movement ins Serbia38. If we conceptualize rejection of
politics as in terms of an intersectional social structure of the attitudes, practices and affects, that
guides an individual's experience rather than being sees simply a reactive attitude, we might get a
better grasp of the factors that could contribute to overcoming this condition within the
citizenries of representative democracies. In our perspective, even though rejection of politics
has emerged as a response to the processes of deterioration of representative democracy over the
past decades, it has over time evolved into a fully-fledged “form of life” that structures the
citizens’ everyday experiences.

3. Methodology

Our analysis of the cultures of rejection in Serbia is based on two different types of data.
Empirical material includes 19 semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted in May-September
2019, 253 posts collected through digital ethnography (observation without participation)
implemented in July 2020 and 71 posts also collected through digital ethnography in February
and March of 2021.

Interviews were conducted with employees in the sector of logistics and retail, occupying non-
administrative positions in 2 Serbian cities: Belgrade and Kraljevo. The purpose of the

38
Duncan, Peter J. S. `Political Alternatives on the Western Left: Podemos, Syriza, Sanders and Corbin`, in: Peter J. S. Duncan
and Elisabeth Schimpfössl (eds.), Socialism, Capitalism and Alternatives Area Studies and Global Theories, (London: UCL
Press, 2019), 181-212
interviews was to identify elements of cultures of rejection in individual, biographical narratives,
and to learn about everyday practices that can lead to experiences of othering and exclusion. Our
intention was also to map the digital spaces that belong to their everyday life where respondents
can observe, experience and reproduce rejection. However, our respondents claimed not to have
active digital engagement, as they emphasized only Facebook in general as their usual digital
space and very few specific open groups or pages they follow. We have, hence, focused on
specific Facebook pages mentioned in interviews, selecting for our sample those pages with a
high degree of user interactions (e.g. comments.), public and currently active.

Digital data included all the posts that induced comments in the period from 22.6.2020. to
26.7.2020. at the Facebook page of the newspaper “Blic” and a Facebook page “Odbranimo reke
stare planine”. “Blic” newspaper is one of the most read newspapers in Serbia and their
Facebook posts are frequently commented on. The Facebook page “Odbranimo reke Stare
planine” (“Defend the rivers of Old Mountain”) belongs to the social movement that at that time
managed to successfully mobilize citizens with different political orientations but with the
common goal to stop the construction of mini-hydropower plants on the rivers in southeast
Serbia.

Critical discourse analysis (CDA) was employed in the analysis, given that CDA aims to reveal
assumptions in discourse, “orders of discourse”, that are seen by speakers as common sense. The
“order of discourse” can precisely be seen as an underlying structure that develops into
discursive formations such as anti-politics. We used a theoretical lens – in our case lens of
cultures of rejection – as an instrument for mapping the elements of anti-politics built into what
we have named rejection of politics. This kind of reading allowed us to locate coherences within
the discursive elements we were analyzing and see how they match our theoretical model of
cultures of rejection. We have identified “utterances”, as the smallest unit of discourse that has
meaning in our material.

4. Rejecting the politics: from the political system to ordinary citizens

The data we have gathered has yielded two discursive elements of rejection of politics. The first
type refers to negative attitudes towards political elites and the second towards political
institutions and the political process in general. The othering of political elites constructs them
as corrupt and running politics for their own selfish interest provoking disgust and anger. This
form of othering is accompanied by a feeling of normlessness which means that citizens claim to
know what is right but feel that political actors knowingly flout the rules. The othering of the
political system constructs it as an entity that is beyond citizen’s control, which builds on our
previous research results on citizens' despair and resentment39. Their participation is not seen as
something that can meaningfully influence political outcomes and is hence accompanied by a
feeling of impotence. These two discursive elements are easily linked to Schedler’s two
perspectives on anti-politics: anti-politics as pretensions to dethrone and banish politics as
useless may be easily equated to othering of political system in total, while pretensions to
conquest and colonize politics could be seen as rejection of these political actors and the call for
their replacement40.

Rejection of politics doesn’t only function on the vertical axis, which stretches from rejection of
political actors to rejection of the political system. We have also identified the horizontal level,
where rejection is directed towards citizens who support decisions made by political actors. The
vertical level has been articulated by the interviewees, while our analysis of material from digital
ethnography has revealed both levels.

Even though we didn’t specifically emphasize the political system in the guideline for the
interviews conducted in the first phase of our research, collected data revealed a significant
rejection of the political system, unresponsiveness of political elites, mistrust in institutions and
overall rejection of politics and political establishment. In fact, the interviewees described
politics and politicians as “direct perpetrators of citizens' lives”. The perception that ".... in our
society the biggest problem is politics" (male, retail, Belgrade) is expressed in interviews of all
of our male respondents and the majority of female respondents.

“I don't trust anyone (political representatives), you had to become morally corrupt in
order to get there." (female, retail, Belgrade).

39
Spasić, Ivana `Političari kao apsolutni drugi: kako građani Srbije opisuju profesionalne političke delatnike`, in:
Podunavac, Milan (ed.), Ustav i demokratija u procesu transformacije`, (Beograd: Fakultet političkih nauka,
Univerzitet u Beogradu, 2011), 185-189
40
Easton, `A Re-assessment of the Concept of Political Support`; Easton, A systems analysis of political life; Clarke et. al. The
Good Politician: Folk Theories, Political Interaction and the Rise of Anti-Politics; Crick, In Defense of Politics.
 "(they are) appointing people who are unprofessional, uneducated, unprepared...that is,
let me say, they run our country, they run our city, they run our village... but they are
incompetent and untouchable and they now, they are in power and they want to give it
away, you understand. You and I can't do anything from this position, they appointed
their people and that's it.” (male, logistic, Kraljevo).

Rejection of politics is primarily introduced as mistrust towards political elites. This mistrust is
not only related to the perception of political elites as morally corrupt and not engaged in
perusing the public interest but also to their incompetence. Building on the mistrust towards
political representatives, respondents expand rejection also to the political institutions and the
political process. This expansion goes even further to reject any kind of representative
organizing, besides parties and political institutions. Interviewed workers reject trade unions and
their representatives in the same manner as unresponsive political elites, claiming to be focused
primarily on personal interest and not workers’ interest. This finding is not surprising for Serbia,
where trust in civil society organizations is among the lowest in Europe41.

"I don't trust them at all (...) our trade union, our president (representative) who is now
one of the strongest people in Serbia, in a way he contributed to the passivity of the
people. I'm telling you a story in the sense that there are no more meetings, to gather
workers to say "people we have to do this, we don't have to do that, we have pressures
from the management, bosses and directors, we must organize (...)” he just doesn't care.”
(male, logistic, Kraljevo).

Such political and social actors occupy the system, nurturing the low political efficacy of the
respondents who construct the entire political system as inaccessible to citizens and hence
beyond their control. The participation of the citizens in the untransparent, focused on private
interest and detached from citizens - “rejected” institutions and procedures is not seen as
something that can meaningfully influence political decisions and overall political life.

41
Danković, Sladjana and Paula M. Pickering, `Public scepticism of internationally supported civil society
organisations: norms, citizen priorities, and local groups in post-socialist Serbia`, East European Politics, vol. 33, no.
2, 210-232
However, even if most of our respondents do not practice unconventional forms of political
participation, like participating in local political movements or specific kinds of activism, they
do vote notwithstanding they themselves don't believe that this could have an impact on politics.

“I can't trust procedures and institutions but I do vote to change them (governing political
elites)… you know how, you don't vote for good, there is the end of the story, you choose
less evil, that's what you do.” (female, retail, Belgrade)

If the institutions and political process represent “the other” that citizens strongly desire to
change they still lack the tools to do so given that the institutions are captured42.

Our analyses also revealed another element of the rejection of politics. Most of the respondents
do not actively follow politics and information from the media relating to politics. They inform
themselves mostly from the headlines in the print and internet media and they use this
information to discuss political issues within closed circles of friends or family where they feel
safe. Such findings contribute to the perception of politics as an Other realm, where openly
stating one's own political opinion could have negative consequences on the respondents lives.
There is, in fact, one contradictory attitude towards politics, where political issues are the topic
for the closest circle of friends, but there is not any desire nor belief that political nor social
engagement can bring changes. Rejection of politics, that goes together with nominal
complaining about political representatives and unresponsive institutions, directly influenced our
second research phase. Namely, respondents from the first phase of our research claimed not to
use any forum or social media to exchange opinions on everyday political issues, except a few of
them who named Blic’s and Odbranimo reke stare planine’s Facebook pages. This finding
contributes to the conclusion that discussions in relation to politics are reserved only for closed
circles, which social media as a mostly used platform (Facebook) are not.

The second part of our analysis was based on analyzing data gathered through digital
ethnography. This phase of our research intersects with the COVID-19 pandemic in the Serbian
context that has had its own peculiarities deriving from the global C-19 crisis and the local
environment. The digital ethnographic research has been conducted in the same period as mass

42
Srđan Prodanović, Gazela Pudar Draško, Marija Velinov, `Otete institucije u Srbiji: Teorija i praksa` (Beograd: Institut za
filozofiju i društvenu teoriju, 2019)
protests erupted in Belgrade against new anti-Covid measures the government announced in July
2020. From March 2020 to the beginning of May 2020 the Serbian government introduced
extremely restrictive measures to fight the pandemic. Those measures went so far as to introduce
curfews lasting from 17h on Fridays to 5h on Mondays. During this time all movement outside
the home was prohibited, except for extreme cases. Those restrictions were abolished
prematurely and completely, which led to a rise in the number of infections at the end of June.
The abolishment of restrictions was seen as a political decision since the government-held
parliamentary elections on the 21st of June 2020. Therefore, citizens saw the introduction of new
restrictions as arbitrary and made under the influence of political actors, not in the public
interest, since the government initially loosened them to make sure it gets re-elected43. When it
comes to 2021. and the vaccination Serbia also has some specificities. The Serbian government
acquired a large amount of various kinds of vaccines (Pfitzer, Sputnjik, Sinopharm and
AstraZeneca)44. During February and March a large amount of Serbian citizens got vaccinated
but after April the demand for vaccination died down and it was then obvious that at least 50% of
citizens refuse to get vaccinated45. This low rate of vaccination was linked by some to a relatively
strong influence of anti-vaxx discourses that are propagated on-line but could also be noticed
during protests against anti-COVID-19 measures and the vaccination in Belgrade46.

The comments we have analyzed present regularities and coherences allowing us to conclude
that they are not random but structured into a discursive element of the rejection of politics.
Adding to what we have identified in the statements from the interviews, citizens in the online
environment express their rejection of the specific actors that occupy positions in the system.
They are the “Other” that corrupts the whole system and causes the rejection of politics. Some

43
Pantelić, Marija. `What were the protests in Serbia really about? `
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2020/7/21/what-were-the-protests-in-serbia-really-about (accessed
09.12.2021).
44
`Mass vaccination in Serbia starts today ` https://www.srbija.gov.rs/vest/en/166398/mass-vaccination-in-
serbia-starts-today.php (accessed 9.12.2021.)
45
Biogradlija, Aksan Lejla and Furkan Abdula, `Low vaccination rates recorded in Western Balkan
countries` https://www.aa.com.tr/en/latest-on-coronavirus-outbreak/low-vaccination-rates-recorded-
in-western-balkan-countries/2397799 (accessed 9.12.2021.)
46
Vucic, Marija, `Hate, Lies and Vigilantes: Serbian ‘Anti-Vaxxer’ Brigade Plays With Fire `
https://balkaninsight.com/2021/09/21/hate-lies-and-vigilantes-serbian-anti-vaxxer-brigade-plays-with-fire/
(accessed 9.12.2021.)
commentators even propose extreme measures in order to rectify the failings of political actors,
which testifies to their emotional charge on this matter.

“Most people are AGAINST ALL POLITICIANS” (Male, Blic’s comment section).

“Ban all political parties that were a part of any government from 1990 onward as
criminal organizations. Take their member’s passive and active right to vote…Obligatory
mental health exam for their functionaries. Then let’s see who they could find to lead us”
(Male, Blic’s comment section).

Obviously, the anonymity that digital space offers is a fertile ground for free and creative
expressions. Besides statements, we have identified a number of memes that visually speak about
the rejection of politics and mostly focus on the leading figures such as President of Serbia
Aleksandar Vučić and his party.

Meme with the ruling party slogan „For
our children“ showing the prominent
politicians and their children (all
promoted to public positions)
Meme with the President and the ruling
party slogan „For our children“ in the midst
of the mass protest where excessive force
was used on young protestors and since the
president was depicted with the instruments
used in police brutality actions.
The analysis of the digital material revealed close links between the perception of the political
actors and the perception of the experts, more precisely immunologists and doctors that are
authorized by the Serbian government to govern the situation of the pandemic. These experts are
often described as political since they are affiliated with political actors in the government as
members of the Covid-19 Crisis Committee. Their decisions are evaluated as made in the
interests of politicians and they are accused of using their scientific authority to hide that. The
commentators, hence, characterize them as incompetent, false experts and “servants” of the
government. We can see that the affiliation of these experts with political figures constructs
rejection, in the same way, labeling them as corrupt and dishonest.

“These Vučić’s experts have schizophrenic episodes. They don’t even know what they’re
talking about” (Male, Blic’s comment section).

“People in Serbia must stand against this, it is a political and not an expert decision, the
whole of Serbia must stand against this, we are not going to listen to charlatans, Vučić is
even talking about forming a government, he isn’t meant to be the president but should be
in prison” (Male, Blic’s comment section).

“They don’t know anything, they haven't known anything for months and they aren't
doing anything to find out” (Female, Blic’s comment section).
 “Shameful expertise” (makes a rhyme in
Serbian language)

Jun 21st (Vučić’s elections) – there is no

danger from Corona

June 22nd – Corona is back, we are all goin’

to die.

Meme with the member of the Covid-19

Crisis Committee, immunologist, blamed
for the shameful statements claiming that
elections are safe but then advocating for
the lockdown after the elections.

Rejection of politics is, clearly, not limited to the politicians but also those actors who take part
in the political processes even when coming from the expert communities. Any affiliation with
the corrupted and captured institutions automatically provokes mistrust. This is going so far as to
reject “ordinary” citizens who support political elites or dare to oppose commentators in the
digital spaces. We have named this element of rejection as horizontal, identified in discussions
between various commentators or as answers to other comments. Frequent examples of such
attitudes are belittling comments such as “shut up you bot” or “go eat a sandwich”. “Bot” is a
term that refers to sympathizers and members of political parties that have been given a task by
superior party members to write comments of support for the party on social media. The notion
of a “sandwich” comes from the fact that the ruling political party in Serbia often hands out
sandwiches to its members and sympathizers that attend political rallies. These kinds of
comments are often used to signify dishonesty since members of political parties who act as bots
and attend political rallies are seen as trying to provide for themselves clientelistic services, jobs
and positions, from the party.

However, this kind of labeling has expanded to delegitimize any opponent, adding strongly to the
polarization in the digital spaces. Citizens who support the decisions of the government (even
those reasonably justified) in the comments are seen as affiliated with political actors, and in the
same way being characterized as dishonest and corrupt. Their comments are not seen as genuine
but written with ulterior motives, constructing them as morally questionable figures. In other
words, just like in the case of experts, their siding with the governmental decisions places them
on the Other side among rejected politicians.

Concluding Remarks

Our research only shows the latest phase of the development of the culture of rejection of politics
among Serbian citizens. This negative relation to politics comes in parallel with the mistrust
towards political actors and institutions and a sense of political inefficacy, where citizens are
unwilling to participate in political life. Such political culture has been nurtured by the state of
permanent crisis going on from the late 1980s till today in Serbia 47. The only exception was a
period of state building after the changes in 2000, which quite promptly was stopped by the new
wave of capturing the political process and institutions. Clientelism, corruption and lack of
transparency of the political process, together with the economic privatization and rise of
precarious work, contributed greatly to citizens' disappointment.

This disappointment with politics has been also intentionally nurtured by politicians themselves
who, paradoxically, have been using an anti-political discourse. Namely the actual prime
minister48 and even the president himself49 have been discrediting the oppositional actors and
processes and labeling them negatively as “politicians” and anti-government protests as
“political”. In their discourse these terms have a negative connotation and provoke public distrust
by pointing to oppositional politicians and protesters supposedly having ulterior motives.
Therefore the government actors are using the notion of politics in order to distance themselves
from their opponents which points to politics being a negative label for them. The same
understanding of politics can be noticed in those who practice unconventional forms of political

47
Ivana Spasić, `Political change in Serbia in the perspective of social learning: An idea revisited`, Filozofija i društvo /
Philosophy and Society, vol. 19, no. 3, 2008, 89-108
48
`Brnabić o protestima: Ovo nema veze sa ekologijom ` https://www.danas.rs/vesti/politika/brnabic-o-protestima-ovo-
nema-veze-sa-ekologijom/ (accessed 09.12.2021.)
49
`Vučić: Protesti su politički, ali građani na njima zavređuju pažnju `
https://www.rts.rs/page/stories/sr/story/9/politika/3372820/vucic-protesti-su-politicki-ali-gradjani-na-njima-zavredjuju-
paznju.html (accessed 09.12.2021.)
participation, like members of some local movements 50. Such findings tell us that anti-politics
has deep roots and creates a paradoxical contrast between de facto political engagement and
rejection of the politics in personal narratives.

The culture of rejection of politics, in our view, heavily endangers prospects for democratic
development in Serbia. Political actors that seek to contribute to social and political changes will
have to tackle this phenomenon and find a way to fight its reproduction and effects. What gives
us hope is that in the last few years various openly political democratic local movements and
initiatives have been founded and citizens' support for them has been increasing. Some examples
are “Don't let Belgrade d(r)own”, a local movement formed with the intention of fighting against
the building of “Belgrade Waterfront” but has since grown and is participating in city elections.
Another example is “Ecological Uprising” a movement formed by citizens looking to fight a
large rise in air pollution and other ecological problems in Serbia. It remains a hope that these
and similar local initiatives and movements will find a way to win the trust of Serbian citizens,
following the path of other countries in the region and hence bring back faith in the democratic
system as the only one that can channel citizens’ preferences.

50
Irena Fiket i Gazela Pudar Draško, `Mogućnost vaninstitucionalne političke participacije unutar neresponsivnog sistema Srbije:
uticaj nepoverenja i interne političke efikasnosti` , Sociologija, vol. 63, no. 2, 400-418; Pudar, Miroslava, `Savo Manojlović:
Pravnik u pokretu` https://www.danas.rs/ljudi/savo-manojlovic-pravnik-u-pokretu/ (accessed 09.12.2021.)