Environmental activism as a new form of political participation of the youth in Serbia

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to explore whether the environmental activism is a new form of political participation of the Serbian youth. One of the characteristics of the postindustrial societies is a general citizen withdrawal from the traditional channels of political participation. Political disengagement is thought to characterize all citizens but most of all the young people. However, although young people may have turned away from mainstream politics, they are nevertheless concerned with a wide range of issues that could be considered political in a broader sense of the term. In the post-socialist Europe young people tend to be even less involved in political life than the youth in the established democracies. However, they are also likely to adopt novel forms of political expression. Whether the Serbian youth follow the same pattern of political involvement, we intend to explore in this article. In searching for the answer to this question, we will focus our analysis on the environmental activism, as one of the forms of the new political engagement widely accepted among young people.Cilj ovog rada je da pruzi odgovor na pitanje da li je ekoloski aktivizam jedan od novih oblika politicke participacije mladih u Srbiji. Jedna od karakteristika postindustrijskih drustava je ukupno povlacenje gradjana iz tradicionalnih kanala politicke participacije. Smatra se da politicko iskljucivanje karakterise sve gradjane, ali mlade ponajvise. Ipak, iako se mladi ljudi sve vise okrecu od 'mainstream' politike, oni su zainteresovani za razlicite teme koje se mogu svrstati u politicke u sirem znacenju pojma. U postsocijalistickim evropskim zemljama, mladi ljudi jos manje ucestvuju u politickom zivotu nego sto je to slucaj sa etabliranim demokratijama. Ipak, oni su takodje skloni da usvoje nove forme politickog izrazavanja. Da li omladina u Srbiji prati iste obrasce politickog angazovanja, namera nam je da istrazimo u ovom radu. U potrazi za odgovorom na ovo pitanje, fokusiracemo nasu analizu na ekoloski aktivizam, kao jedan od oblika novog politickog angazovanja siroko prihvacenog medju mladima.