Student Mobilisation against Corruption in N. Macedonia and Serbia: The Potential for Regional Transnational Anti-Corruption Networks
This article examines the potential for regional transnational anti-corruption networks through a comparison of the student protest movement in Serbia and the “Who is Next?” initiative in North Macedonia. Both mobilizations emerged after fatal tragedies associated with institutional corruption and developed within hybrid political regimes. Drawing on newspaper reports, online materials, and semi-structured interviews with activists and key informants, the study applies qualitative discourse analysis to investigate diffusion, domestication, internalization, and externalization. The findings reveal shared anti-corruption frames, systemic demands, and similar repertoires of contention, alongside limited acknowledgement of cross-border learning and no reported organized cooperation over protest tactics. Neither mobilization primarily directed its demands towards supranational actors. However, Serbian students undertook international awareness-raising actions, whereas externalization remained absent from the Macedonian initiative. Interviewees expressed interest in regional cooperation but identified political, linguistic, organizational, and resource constraints. The article argues that corruption-driven protests can generate conditions for transnational collective action, while shared grievances and tactical similarities alone do not establish durable regional networks.
Ivan Stefanovski
Ivan Stefanovski is Assistant Professor of Applied Politics at the Institute for Sociological, Political and Juridical Research, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje. His research focuses on social movements, party politics, democratic innovations, and protest dynamics in Southeast Europe.