Archive

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.

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.

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.

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.

Guardians of Hopelessness: How SDA Reached the Brink of Disappearing from the Political Scene

From a political movement that once brought together almost all Bosniaks in Sandžak to the third-ranked Bosniak party, Emir Bihorac analyzes how authoritarianism, the loss of voter trust, weakening in Novi Pazar and the BNV, and the exhaustion of its political narrative brought SDA Sandžak into one of the most difficult positions since its founding.

The Pathology of Normality: Why Normal People Do Not Need to Advertise Themselves as Normal

SDP in Novi Pazar is building its campaign around the messages “time for normality” and “human”. After almost two decades in local government, the question is no longer only what these slogans mean, but why normality and humanity are now being presented as something that needs to be politically proven.

The Kafana as the Balkans’ Public Living Room

For centuries, politics, work, music, gossip, leisure and everyday tasks now handled by entire institutions have intersected around the kafana table. The kafana was one of the few places where society could be seen with little protocol.

Why Bosniak Parties Are Unlikely to Decide Who Forms Serbia’s Next Government

From estimates of the Bosniak electorate and possible parliamentary seats to the political myth of the “decisive vote”: Emir Bihorac examines how much influence Bosniak parties can realistically have on the formation of Serbia’s next government.

Half-truth as the new norm

Why lies are no longer necessary. How to speak with just enough truth to avoid lying, yet enough omission to manipulate.

Where Nature Is Memory, and Memory Is Freedom

We belong to nature, not the other way around