THE FALL OF DEMOCRACY AND BIRTH OF THE NEO-IMPERIAL TYPE OF CITIZENS

Dr. Miša Stojadinović, Director of the Institute

Abstract

This paper represents a critical analysis of the position of the citizen in the contemporary democratic society. There is also a necessity for the analysis of the process of weakening social and political engagement of citizens. The main goal of this paper is to redefine the concept of citizen from the neoliberal aspect, underling at the same time the collapse of the democratic capacities of political institutions globally. Numerous social changes at the global level have led to numerous challenges that test democratic capabilities of political institutions daily. Many so-called humanitarian interventions are forced around the world in the name of democracy and human rights. For these reasons, the very concept of democracy has come under attack, with the emerging need for redefining it. Today, also, the concept of “good citizen” is called into question. There are tendentious of the development of a new type of citizen, who is an obedient and imperceptible consumer, excluded from all spheres of decision-making process.

The loss of confidence in political institutions has produced a huge democratic deficit with which we must be faced as soon as possible. Creating an insecure environment automatically precludes any possibility of strengthening the democratic and national capacities of political institutions, which automatically leads to the disappearance of the citizen as an important actor from the political sphere. The notion of a citizen as an active participant in government has been called into question. Neoliberal democracy atomizes society by creating a disorganized group of individuals who is unwilling to take any collective action. A citizen in the most general sense represents a person with certain rights and duties within the socio-political community to which he is bound by relatively permanent membership. Bearing in mind the context of the study in this paper, it is necessary to emphasize in particular the political rights and duties of the citizen as an equal actor in political processes. This further leads to the need to develop a democratic environment in which citizens will be active participants, and not just passive observers. This underlines the importance for the development of participatory democracy, which has proven to be the most optimal model for fulfilling basic democratic principles.

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