"New municipalism as a political-strategic approach is a reaction to the authoritarian management of the deep and multiple crises of capitalism after 2008. From their base in Spain, municipalist platforms have extended elsewhere across the globe, including in the south-east European periphery in Zagreb and Belgrade – via Zagreb Je NAŠ! and Ne Da(vi)mo Beograd – both of which have subsequently transformed themselves into political movements. This article analyses these two initiatives guided by three questions: in which conjuncture and in the context of what kind of state did these municipalist platforms in Zagreb and Belgrade emerge? What is the character of new municipalism in Serbia and Croatia? And what is their emancipatory potential? The article concludes that the platforms, and the new parties into which they transformed, are not experiments in radical democracy but are characterised by an intention to establish the rule of law and democratic freedoms. As such, the turbulence they create is providing a challenge to the prevailing, widespread system of patronage and thus questioning the current regimes."

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