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Women on the Ballot, Men at the Top: What Is Electoral Equality Worth?
In Serbia's parliamentary elections scheduled for 25 October 2026, political parties are once again highlighting the number of women among their candidates. Some take particular pride in the fact that women make up a majority on their lists. This is certainly worth noting, but it leaves open the question of how much influence female candidates have over party decisions and what power they will hold if elected. An OSCE report on gender equality in Serbia's National Assembly shows why this distinction cannot be reduced to an electoral percentage.
Ahead of the BNC Elections: Democracy and Pluralism Before Unity, Authority, Parties and Projects
Ahead of the elections for the Bosniak National Council, Emir Bihorac examines the approaches of Bosniak political parties and proposes a different model: a non-partisan, secular and pluralistic Council that preserves Sandžak's heritage and protects the interests of all Bosniaks.
Results: 39
Women on the Ballot, Men at the Top: What Is Electoral Equality Worth?
In Serbia's parliamentary elections scheduled for 25 October 2026, political parties are once again highlighting the number of women among their candidates. Some take particular pride in the fact that women make up a majority on their lists. This is certainly worth noting, but it leaves open the question of how much influence female candidates have over party decisions and what power they will hold if elected. An OSCE report on gender equality in Serbia's National Assembly shows why this distinction cannot be reduced to an electoral percentage.
Ahead of the BNC Elections: Democracy and Pluralism Before Unity, Authority, Parties and Projects
Ahead of the elections for the Bosniak National Council, Emir Bihorac examines the approaches of Bosniak political parties and proposes a different model: a non-partisan, secular and pluralistic Council that preserves Sandžak's heritage and protects the interests of all Bosniaks.
Why Do We Cheer for Violence We Watch Through a Screen?
In Tirana, rubbish bins are burning, traffic lights are being smashed and protesters are clashing with police. On social media, some viewers greet these scenes with enthusiasm. We saw similar reactions during protests in Serbia, and last year in Nepal. Why do we feel the need to see violence as proof that something is finally changing? And how willing would we be to support it if, instead of holding a phone, we were standing in front of a police cordon?
You Have the Right. But Can You Afford to Defend It?
The Constitution guarantees equality before the law, but going to court can involve costs that someone on an average income may struggle to bear. Lawyers, court fees, expert assessments, lost working days and years of waiting often determine how capable a person really is of protecting their rights. Serbia has a free legal aid system. The problem is that many people do not even know it exists, while some discover it only when it is already too late.
From Left-Wing Form to Right-Wing Substance: The Paradox of the Student Movement
The student movement has brought plenums, direct democracy and collective decision-making back into Serbia's political life. However, Emir Bihorac asks why workers' rights, class relations and economic democracy have been largely absent from this model. He examines how a movement using methods traditionally associated with the left may narrow the space for its development and what consequences this could have for democracy.
Who Said the 21st Century Had to Be Better?
Wars, poverty, violence, discrimination, people without water or electricity. Whenever something happens that we consider unacceptable, someone will almost certainly say: “How is this possible in the 21st century?” That sentence reveals how accustomed we have become to believing in progress that is supposed to happen on its own. But history has no obligation to improve simply because the date has changed.
Serbia on the brink of what? Polarisation, political conflict and the myth of civil war
Emir Bihorac examines the political polarisation between supporters of the SNS and the student movement and argues that deep divisions do not mean Serbia is heading towards civil war, while warning of a longer-term erosion of the political process itself.
From self-criticism to civilisation: How societies change when they learn to question themselves
Emir Bihorac writes about self-criticism as a civilisational skill and about societies that find it far easier to identify an external culprit than to confront their own responsibility. Through examples from Belgrade and Sandžak, universities, politics and religious institutions, the text examines the gap between knowledge, rules and their actual implementation.
Shanghai Ranking: What Does a Rank Really Tell Us About University Quality?
The University of Belgrade’s fall below the world’s top 500 has once again raised questions about the quality of higher education. Minja Petrović examines what the Shanghai Ranking actually measures, which universities its methodology favours, and why a change in position does not necessarily mean a change in the quality of teaching or research.
From Loyalty to Rules: How to Break with the Politics of Personal Relations
From the Habsburg and Ottoman empires to Tito, Vučić, the Student List and the European Union, Emir Bihorac traces the historical roots of a political culture in which personal and collective loyalty often remain stronger than institutions and rules.
Bosniaks Between Functionality and Moral Education
Starting from Kant, the Islamic tradition and the contemporary position of Bosniaks, Emir Bihorac examines the relationship between functional institutions and the moral education of the individual, the problem of living between two models, and the question of which social direction Bosniaks, particularly in Sandžak, should choose.
Pobednik Returned to Terazije, This Time with a Student Box
Almost a century after Ivan Meštrović envisioned Pobednik for Terazije, its student version passed through central Belgrade on the way from the Rectorate to the Republic Electoral Commission. The figure that once represented military victory was now holding a box marked “Students Win”. There is much more behind that image than a good photograph.