What enables social movements to be effective, and how are strategies developed that guide them from spontaneous gatherings to global change? These questions will be addressed by Branislav Muškatirović, Junior Research Assistant at the Center for Sociological and Anthropological Research at the Institute of Social Sciences, in a lecture dedicated to the grand strategies of social movements, organized as part of the lecture series introducing newly arrived colleagues at the Institute.
Protests in Serbia are only part of a broader global phenomenon of spontaneous and planned mass mobilization that has marked the first quarter of the 21st century. In his presentation, Muškatirović will provide a theoretical framework for understanding the effectiveness and potential of social movements, examining them through three key aspects: the formulation of grand strategies that movements develop to respond to the challenges of the communities and states in which they operate; the internal processes shaping their functioning and their relationships with social elites; and the organizational forms of movements, including the role of violence in achieving objectives.
Special attention will be given to how movements build and exercise power, choosing between cooperation and confrontation with existing structures. Through the analysis of historical examples — from the French Revolution and the American War of Independence, through the October Revolution, to the Chinese Civil War — it will be shown how different social contexts shaped the strategies and outcomes of collective movements.
The aim of Branislav Muškatirović’s lecture is to present a social-cybernetic theoretical framework that allows for a deeper understanding of contemporary social change and provides a foundation for thoughtful and effective planning of engaged social action.