ActiveLab

ActiveLab is an interdisciplinary research group that explores and promotes democratic innovations and citizen participation. It brings together experts and researchers from various fields, such as political science, sociology, anthropology, psychology, and communication. The lab is designed to facilitate innovative research that aims to understand, analyze, and enhance democratic processes and citizen engagement.

ActiveLab’s research agenda is focused on two wide areas of research. Members of the lab explore participatory, agonistic, and deliberative forms of democracy. Its researchers are particularly interested in understanding how new citizen participation models can help bridge the gap between public officials and ordinary citizens and give people a greater say in the decisions that affect their lives. Along with the focus on democratic innovations, a significant part of our research is focused on various forms of citizen participation, ranging from protest politics to the impact of social movements and community-based initiatives on political processes. In their research, laboratory members employ quantitative and qualitative methodologies that help them fully grasp the two focal points of the lab’s research.

The lab organizes seminars, workshops, and conferences that bring together scholars, policymakers, activists, and the general public to discuss new ideas and share best practices. ActiveLab has extensive project experience and collaboration with European centers in the same field. Finally, ActiveLab strongly focuses on outreach, seeking to contribute to developing a more vibrant, inclusive, and participatory space for citizens in Serbia, the Western Balkans, and beyond.

The Lab has led the Erasmus+ Jean Monnet Network – Active citizenship: promoting and advancing innovative democratic practices in the Western Balkans, bringing first Citizens Assemblies to Serbia. The project Take the City into Your Own Hands: the Outlines of Citizen Participation was designed to promote the principles of democracy, especially focusing on models of civic participation at the level of local communities. ActiveLab is a partner on the Horizons 2020 project EnTrust: Enlightened trust: An examination of trust and distrust in governance – conditions, effects, and remedies focused on the examination of citizen trust and distrust in governance, and Horizons Europe projects

Nets4Dem: Network of Networks 4 Democracy with the task to compile and profile the EU-funded corpus of knowledge on democratic innovations.

Bursać, D. (2024). Osnovi reforme izbornog sistema: slučaj Srbije. Beograd: Institut za filozofiju i društvenu teoriju.

Đorđević, A. (2022). Miris ajvara i miris lavande: ograničenja i slobode (od) etničke identifikacije za mlade u Srbiji. Beograd: Institut za filozofiju i društvenu teoriju, Novi Sad: Akademska knjiga.

Kleut, J., Ninković Slavnić, D., Ilić, V.,& Išpanović, I. (2023). Izveštaj o digitalnim vestima – Srbija. Novi Sad: Nezavisno društvo novinara Vojvodine. https://rifdt.instifdt.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/2823

Mijatović, N. (2022). Ko sarađuje, taj dobija. Analiza dugoročnih partnerstava poslovnog i civilnog sektora nagrađenih Virtus nagradom za filantropiju. Beograd: Trag fondacija.

Vučićević, D. & Bursać, D. (2023). Ko šalje novac kući – fiskalne posledice teritorijalne reprezentativnosti narodne skupštine. Politička misao, 81(3), 29-49.

Bursać, D. & Radujko, D. (2023). Spatial Distance and Representation in Closed PR List: Revisiting the U ‑Curve Argument. Politics in Central Europe, 19(3), 471-486.

Bursać, D. (2023). Faktori teritorijalne reprezentativnosti u zatvorenom proporcionalnom izbornom sistemu: slučaj Republike Srbije. Politička revija, 77(3), 11-28.

Fiket, I., Ilić, V., Markov, Č. & Pudar Draško, G. (2023). How to run a deliberative mini-public in a hybrid regime? Beograd: Institut za filozofiju i društvenu teoriju.

Markov, Č. (2023). “Da, vredi boriti se”: Kako aktivisti u Srbiji obezbeđuju pažnju javnosti u digitalnom okruženju. Kritika: časopis za filozofiju i teoriju društva, 4(1), 3–24.

Markov, Č. & Min, Y. (2022). Unpacking public animosity toward professional journalism: A qualitative analysis of the differences between media distrust and cynicism. Journalism, 24(10), 2136-2154.

Markov, Č. & Đorđević, A. (2023). Becoming a Target: Journalists’ Perspectives on Anti-Press Discourse and Experiences with Hate Speech. Journalism Practice, https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2023.2215738

Glušac, L. (2023). Leaving No One Behind, Leaving No One Unaccountable: Ombuds Institutions, Good (Security Sector) Governance and Sustainable Development Goal 16. London and Geneva: Ubiquity Press and DCAF.

Glušac, L. (2022). Universal Periodic Review and Policy Change: The Case of National Human Rights Institutions. Journal of Human Rights Practice, 14(1), 285–304.

Glušac, L. (2022). Razvoj ideje o nacionalnim institucijama za ljudska prava: od Ženevskih smernica do Pariskih principa. Strani pravni život, 66(1), 59-74.

Branković, M. (2022). Psihologija odnosa ljudi i (ostalih) životinja. Beograd: Fakultet za medije i komunikacije.

Branković, M., Budžak, A., Tulić, N. & Janković, J. (2023). Effects of experimentally induced self-affirmation on the openness to meat reduction and alternative protein sources. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1021891.

Schermer, J. A., Branković, M., Čekrlija, Đ., MacDonald, K. B., Park, J., Papazova, E., Volkodav, T., Iliško, D., Wlodarczyk, A., Kwiatkowska, M. M., Rogoza, R., Oviedo-Trespalacios, O., Khanh Ha, T. T., Kowalski, C. M., Malik, S., Lins, S., Navarro-Carrillo, G., Aquino, S., Doroszuk, M., Riđić, O., Pylat, N., Özsoy, E., Tan, C., Mamuti, A., Ardi, R., Jukić, T., Uslu, O., Martinez Buelvas, L., Liik, K.,& Kruger, G. (2023). Loneliness and vertical and horizontal collectivism and individualism: A multinational study. Current Research in Behavioral Sciences, 4, 100105.

Balunović, F. (2023). Beda ljudskih prava: Desnica, pandemija i nauka kao novo polje politicke borbe. Beograd: Fakultet za medije i komunikacije.

Balunović, F. (2023). Opozicioni aktivizam poznatih ličnosti u Srbiji 2017-2021. Kritika: časopis za filozofiju i teoriju društva, 4(1), 25–48.

Balunović, F. (2022) On Fallacies of the Economic Approach for the Kosovar-Serbian Issue Solving, In Balunović, F., Belgzim Kamberi, B., Pavlović, A. & Ymeri, V. (eds.), Kosovo – Serbia: A Different Approach (pp. 77-89). Pristina and Belgrade: Institute for Social Policy Musine Kokalari & Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory.

Ćeriman, J. (2023). Can National Councils of National Minorities Be Effective Channels for Greater Political Participation of Women from National Minority Communities in Serbia? Skopje: University American College Skopje (UACS).

Fiket, I., Draško, G. P., & Ilić, V. (2024). The pandemic in illiberal democracies: challenges and opportunities for social movements in Serbia. Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, 24(1), 79–100.

Ilić, V. (2023). Serbia’s Energy Dilemma: Navigating Geopolitical Tensions, Russian Ownership, and the Path to Renewable Transition. BiEPAG.

Iguman S., Mijatović, N., and Nikolić, S. . 2022. ““Keep up the Good Work, Za Naš Kej!” Citizens’ Passive Support to the Local Activist Group.” Filozofija I Društvo 33 (1): 120–42. https://doi.org/10.2298/FID2201120I.

Nikolić, S. 2023. „Burning Tires, Sauerkraut and Dung: The (Classist) Boundaries of an Olfactory Landscape“. Sensory Environmental Relationships: Between Memories of the Past and Imaginings of the Future, edited by Blaž Bajič, Ana Svetel, 155-173. Delaware: Vernon press. https://rifdt.instifdt.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/2886

Mihailović, V., Pavićević, G. & Ilić, V. (2023). Protesti protiv nasilja: Istraživanje javnog mnjenja i stavova učesnika protesta. Beograd: CRTA.

Ćeriman, J., Ilić, V. & Đorđević, A. (2023). “Trust, but Verify”: Constructing Trust and Distrust during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Serbia. EnTrust.

Fiket, I., Pudar Draško G. & Vasiljević J. (2024), Norming Participatory Practices of Movement Parties in Southeast Europe. In Participatory Democratic Innovations in Southeast Europe: How to Engage in Flawed Democracies, ed. By Fiket, Markov, Ilić and Pudar Draško, Routledge, 195-213. DOI: 10.4324/9781003426103-13

Fiket, I.,& Spasojevic, D. (2023). Opposition in Serbia: oppression, delegitimization and extra-institutional engagement. The legal and political conditions of opposition parties in Central and Eastern Europe. An overview. EUT Edizioni Università di Trieste.

Fiket, I., Draško, G. P., & Urošević, M. (2022). Anti-politics as ‘culture of rejection’: the case of Serbia. Patterns of Prejudice, 56(4–5), 279–296.

Fiket, I. (2023). Citizens’ assemblies at supranational level: Addressing the EU and global democratic deficit. De Gruyter Handbook of Citizens’ Assemblies, 197-209.

Vasiljević, J. (2022). Local Activism as a Challenge to the Ethnocentric Model of Citizenship in the Western Balkans?, In: Balunović, F., Kamberi, B., Pavlović, A. & Ymeri, V. (eds.), Kosovo – Serbia: A Different Approach (pp. 123-134). Pristina and Belgrade: Institute for Social Policy Musine Kokalari & Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory. http://rifdt.instifdt.bg.ac.rs/123456789/2708.

Radovanović, B. & Vasiljević, J. (2022). Community Foundations in Serbia: Bottom-Up Empowerment. The role, challenges, and prospects for the development. Belgrade: Trag fondacija and Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory. http://rifdt.instifdt.bg.ac.rs/123456789/2544.

Vasiljević, J. (2023). A Crisis of Political Solidarity in the European Union and the Western Balkans: Reactive vs. Institutional Solidarity. Southeastern Europe, 46(3), 225-247. DOI: 10.30965/18763332-46030001

Đorđević A, and Vasiljević, J. (2022). The Effects of Deliberation on Citizen Knowledge, Attitudes and Preferences: A Case Study of a Belgrade Deliberative Mini Public. Filozofija i Društvo 33, 1, 72-97. DOI: 10.2298/FID2201072D

Vasiljević. J. (2020). Solidarity Reasoning and Citizenship Agendas: From Socialist Yugoslavia to Neoliberal Serbia. East European Politics and Societies and Cultures, 20, 10, 1-22. DOI: 10.1177/0888325420923023.

· Can National Councils of National Minorities Be Effective Channels for Greater Political Participation of Women from National Minority Communities in Serbia?, Policy Paper, Jelena Ćeriman,

· Serbia’s Energy Dilemma: Navigating Geopolitical Tensions, Russian Ownership, and the Path to Renewable Transition, Policy Paper, Vujo Ilić,

· Vujo Ilić participated in Citizen Assemblies in Action Study Trip in Brijuni,

· Vujo Ilić Participated in Belgrade Security Conference,

· Green Transition in the Western Balkans, Seriously Balkans – The BiEPAG Talks, Episode 5, guests Dimitar Bechev, Nikos Tzifakis, Marika Djolai, Donika Emini and Vujo Ilic,

· The Insight Angle, interview with Vujo Ilić for NATO Defense College Foundation,

· Irena Fiket participated in the SHEtalk with a lecture on The Promise and Limits of Citizens’ Assemblies,

· Jelena Vasiljević participated in the 61st International Academic Week “Wind of Change? Academic and Artistic Perspectives on Experiences of Change in Southeast Europe”,

· Jelena Vasiljević participated in the panel discussion “Beyond the barricades. What does European politics today owe to protests?” Marking 10 years of Green European Journal.

· Serbian elections: a postcard from the doorsteps of the EU, Jelena Vasiljević for Europen Alternatives,

· Unleashing the Potential for Change through Social Movements and Civic Initiatives, Policy Brief, authors Vedran Džihić , Marika Djolai , Jelena Vasiljević and Alida Vračić,