From Demos to Ethnos: Popular Revolt and Elite Transformation in Montenegro's Anti-Bureaucratic Revolution (1988–1990)

2026-07-22

With populism, ethnonationalism, and right-wing radicalism on the rise around the globe, the analysis of the Anti-Bureaucratic Revolution in Montenegro (1988–1990) provides unique empirical material to understand how and why an inclusive and tolerant society (demos) can be rapidly transformed into one based on a more exclusive and intolerant ethnic identity (ethnos). DEPRET’s objective is to understand under what conditions civil society turns “uncivil”. It proposes to do so by taking an interdisciplinary approach to investigating two interrelated processes: popular revolt and elite transformation. More specifically, the project aims to: (1) improve understandings of elite transformation through a critical interpretation of elite public discourses, with a particular focus on how they articulated, framed, and legitimized themselves and “the people” to bring about what they saw as “necessary changes to the system”; (2) identify, map, and analyze repertoires of contention and tactics of resistance used by protesting citizens in advancing or resisting right-wing populism, with a particular focus on key grievances, frames, and justifications used to reconstitute themselves from a socialist demos into a nationalist ethnos or to oppose this process; and (3) contribute to theory development by investigating the relationship between grassroots and elite expressions of right-wing populism as a two-way process of elite–mass interaction during turbulent times. To achieve these objectives, DEPRET uses a mixed-method research framework that combines two methods of textual analysis: the qualitative approach of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and the quantitative approach of Protest Event Analysis (PEA) to analyze publicly available textual corpora in Montenegrin libraries and archives. The proposed research conducted within the MSCA-IF framework will significantly contribute to my academic growth from an early-career researcher to an established interdisciplinary scholar.

Sweden

2026-02-15