In the past months, unprecedented protests have swept across two of the European Union’s candidate states—Georgia and Serbia. In Georgia, mass demonstrations erupted in response to the contested parliamentary elections and the ruling party’s decision to ‘temporarily’ pause the country’s EU integration process. In Serbia, large-scale protests followed the canopy collapse at the train station in Novi sad, killing 15 citizens, which quickly evolved into broader anti-system mobilizations. Despite stemming from different events, both protests have been entirely bottom-up and directed against governments that have entrenched state capture while maintaining a formal commitment to EU integration. In Georgia, the protests have continued daily for over 75 days, while Serbia has been in a continuous blockade of universities and public institutions since November 22nd.

This sustained resistance raises crucial questions about how citizen-led movements can challenge illiberal regimes where traditional democratic mechanisms—such as free media, fair elections, and independent institutions—are weakened or captured. By comparing recent protests in Georgia and Serbia, we will explore how citizens adapt their strategies in hybrid regimes and why, despite similar protest tactics, they elicit different responses from both their governments and the international community.

This roundtable aims to shed light on how illiberal regimes adapt to and co-opt citizen protests—and what strategies can effectively push back. It also examines how external actors can either strengthen or unintentionally weaken these movements depending on their priorities.

Leading Questions

• Origins and Goals of the Protests – What sparked these movements, and what do their demands reveal about the regimes they are confronting?
• Protest Strategies and Opposition Dynamics – How do citizens organize after years of state capture, and what role (if any) does the opposition play in mobilization?
• Regime Responses – How and why do governments react differently to similar protest movements? What does this reveal about their priorities?
• International Influence, Particularly the EU – Why has the EU been more vocal in supporting protests in Georgia than in Serbia, despite both being candidate states? How does this selective engagement impact the legitimacy and momentum of civic resistance, as well as perceptions of the EU as a democratic actor?
• Long-term Impact – What do these cases tell us about authoritarian resilience, the effectiveness of grassroots resistance, and broader lessons for hybrid regimes worldwide?

Programme

17:00 – Introductory presentation by Anastasia Mgaloblishvili and Lorena Drakula

17:20 – Roundtable discussion with all participants

18:20 – Summary of insights and closing remarks

Registration

Please contact Anastasia Mgaloblishvili if you wish to attend the event and optionally if you would also like to join for dinner afterwards: anastasia.mgaloblishvili@fu-berlin.de (dinner is not covered by the organizers).

Online Participation

You can take part in the discussion online on WebEx through this link.