One year after a deadly train-station collapse in Novi Sad that killed sixteen people, Serbia’s student-led protests have become a powerful challenge to corruption, impunity, and democratic decay.

In this episode, Dan Banik speaks with Nemanja Džuverović, Professor of Peace Studies at the University of Belgrade, about how grief turned into the country’s largest civic movement in decades. Together they explore what the protests reveal about Serbia’s political system, the rise of “stabilocracy,” and the fragile state of democracy across the Balkans.

Dan and Nemanja — colleagues in the Circle U European University Alliance’s Democracy Hub — also discuss shifting global alliances, China’s growing presence, and why young Serbians are losing faith in the European project.

A story of resilience and renewal, this conversation offers rare insight into how civic courage can revive democracy from the ground up.

Host:

Dan Banik 

LinkedIn

X: @danbanik @GlobalDevPod

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