CIVIL SOCIETY WORK IN THE CONTEXT OF
PROTRACTED DEMOCRATIZATION PROCESSES
A Sisyphus work indispensable for democracy to
become the „only game in town“
Are we happy with the level of institutional
cooperation between public authorities and
CSOs? If not, what has to be changed?
FRAMEWORK FOR COOPERATION
• Structural preconditions – crisis of democracy /
electoral democracies / hybrid regimes – grey zone
regimes
• Role of democratic civil society in protracted
democratization processes in the Western Balkans
• Social and economic crisis and civil society
• Still urgent need to tackle open and contested
issues/and to tell truth
Authorities and CSOs
• Real readiness for cooperation vs.
Institutionalism without life
• Politics of mimicry and its impact on
cooperation
• CSOs as a necessary evil?
CSOs and Authorities
• Selfunderstanding of CSOs
• Big elite CSOs vs. Small – new internal
hegemonies with effects on modes of
cooperation
• Service provider for the government vs.
Democratic corrective and watch dog
PARADOXES OF COOPERATION
• Positive examples and its mirror images in the
Western Balkans
– Bosnia-Herzegovina
– Montenegro
– Serbia
• Lessons to be learned - How to be effective in
critical areas of society?
BRINGING THE CITIZENS BACK
• Being citizen today – lost in transition?
• Institutional mechanisms of cooperation –
Empowering citizens or leaving them aside?
• Are social and protest movements more effective
than cooperative mechanisms?
• New modes of civil society engagement needed
EU Integration – Impact ON/OFF
• Enlargement fatigue / Balkan fatigue / Euro Zone
Crisis – Does it change anything for the region?
• Making the perspective real makes a difference
(see the case of Croatia)
• How to utilize the EU? Approaches beyond
bureaucratic routines
• Best practices
THINKING OUT OF THE BOX VS. PRETENDING TO
DO SO – HOW TO CHANGE THE MATRIX?
• Challenge the institutional routines and mimicry
• Engage in constructive deconstruction of the
democratic surface
• Force solidarity among CSOs and between
citizens and CSOs
• Communicate offensively – fight for the public
space
THINKING OUT OF THE BOX VS. PRETENDING TO
DO SO – HOW TO CHANGE THE MATRIX?
• Underlying the regional perspective – join forces
/ think and act regionally, globally and locally at
the same time
• Work on capacities, learn from best practices
• Bring the citizens back – be their voice
• Utilize the EU and fight together for “open
societies” and against its opponents (corruption,
crime, nepotism, etc.)
„One must imagine Sisyphus happy“