Online Workshop, Thursday 25 January 2024, 5pm UK / 6pm CET
Aleksandra Piletić is a Lecturer at King’s College London. Her research is situated at the intersection of international political economy and economic geography. Her most recent research has focused on post-2008 crisis ‘mutations’ of neoliberalism, which has taken two broad lines: one has focused on the relationship between digital platforms and neoliberalism and the question of what is disruptive and what is continuous about platforms and so-called ‘platform capitalism’. The other has focused on the intensification of coercive and authoritarian practices for the purpose of solidifying post-2008 crisis forms of neoliberalism. Here, she has conducted research on urban and renewable energy politics.
Discussants:
Alke Jenss, Senior Researcher, Coordination Cluster Contested Governance, Arnold Bergstraesser Institute
Yuliya Yurchenko, Senior Lecturer in Political Economy, University of Greenwich
The article is available here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14747731.2023.2167985
Abstract
In light of the recent rise of authoritarianism and processes of ‘democratic backsliding’ in the Balkans (and other parts of CEE), the EU has projected an image of itself as a bastion of democracy and a counterweight to authoritarian tendencies and regimes. In contrast, this article points to the ways in which the EU – through its enlargement strategy – has legitimized authoritarian practices in candidate states. These practices have been inherently linked to the adoption of the EU acquis communautaire and deepening processes of neoliberal restructuring. In Serbia, the mandated transition to renewable energy, and the associated rise in small hydropower as a solution for meeting renewable energy targets, has led to an intensification of state-sponsored violence and coercion. By focusing on a small hydropower development in Rakita, Serbia, this paper highlights the inherently multiscalar nature of authoritarian state power and potential new avenues for contestation.
Critical Political Economy Research Network (RN06) 