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Montenegro’s Contentious Politics: How Clerical Protests brought Down the Government

Publication date: 30.06.2023

Teoria Polityki, 2023, No. 7/2023, pp. 247 - 270

https://doi.org/10.4467/25440845TP.23.013.17526

Authors

,
Petar Popović
University of Zagreb, Trg maršala Tita 14, HR-10000 Zagreb Croatia
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4770-004X Orcid
All publications →
Domagoj Ećimović
University of Zagreb, Trg maršala Tita 14, HR-10000 Zagreb Croatia
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6328-4616 Orcid
All publications →

Titles

Montenegro’s Contentious Politics: How Clerical Protests brought Down the Government

Abstract

Parliamentary elections in Montenegro in 2020 marked an end of Milo Đukanović’s ruling Democratic Party of Socialists, DPS. The defeat was an outcome of clerical protests led and organized by the Serbian Orthodox Church, SOC. This paper explores the contentious politics used by SOC to bring down the DPS-led government over the controversial Law on Freedom of Religions. SOC used its well-rooted repertoires of contention in nonviolent religious processions and channeled the discontent that was present among the people in Montenegro to its advantage. Montenegro’s democratic deficits and systemic corruption helped mobilize the people against Đukanović and DPS. First part contextualizes the evolution of relations between SOC and the government in the past thirty years, to determine the internal dynamics that would define religious re- volt in 2020. Second part looks specifically at religious processions traditionally used by SOC as a type of modular collective action for achieving its political aims. Finally, we dis- cuss how the strategy of non-violent protests of 2020, changed discourse and general mo- nopolization of anti-government sentiments led to a successful outcome at the elections. SOC not only accomplished its goal of terminating the Law, but continues to behave as a state above the state.

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Information

Information: Teoria Polityki, 2023, No. 7/2023, pp. 247 - 270

Article type: Original article

Titles:

Polish:

Montenegro’s Contentious Politics: How Clerical Protests brought Down the Government

English:

Montenegro’s Contentious Politics: How Clerical Protests brought Down the Government

Authors

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4770-004X

Petar Popović
University of Zagreb, Trg maršala Tita 14, HR-10000 Zagreb Croatia
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4770-004X Orcid
All publications →

University of Zagreb, Trg maršala Tita 14, HR-10000 Zagreb Croatia

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6328-4616

Domagoj Ećimović
University of Zagreb, Trg maršala Tita 14, HR-10000 Zagreb Croatia
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6328-4616 Orcid
All publications →

University of Zagreb, Trg maršala Tita 14, HR-10000 Zagreb Croatia

Published at: 30.06.2023

Article status: Open

Licence: CC BY  licence icon

Percentage share of authors:

Petar Popović (Author) - 50%
Domagoj Ećimović (Author) - 50%

Article corrections:

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Publication languages:

English