Preliminary communication
https://doi.org/10.15378/1848-9540.2018.41.04
Public Politics as Commons. Investigating the Possibilities of Political Emancipation in the Conditions of Narrowed Civil Liberties in Croatia
Sanja Đurin
orcid.org/0000-0002-9557-1118
; Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
In contemporary social theory, there are often claims that in neoliberal regimes, the public political space is disappearing or is becoming increasingly narrow, and a politically engaged citizenry is being replaced by patriotism and an uncritical stance regarding how governments operate. The biopolitical structures of neoliberal regimes are creating and using unfavourable socio-economic conditions, general precariousness, unstable working and living conditions, and the commodification of goods and services to discipline citizens and make them obedient and uncritical. These processes are visible in many countries today, including Croatia, and particularly in the areas of reproductive rights and freedoms for sexual and gender minorities. However, there are new forms of civic organization that have become a barrier to this narrowing of civil liberties. This paper poses the question of whether we can approach national politics of sexuality as a form of commons that are created and managed by citizens. Can this approach contribute to what queer politics entail? Specifically, can it widen a sphere of sexual and intimate life that is freed from state and institutional control and return political engagement to the citizenry?
Keywords
politics of sexuality; governmentality; precarity; commons; LGBTIQ; Croatia
Hrčak ID:
213531
URI
Publication date:
21.12.2018.
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