The forensics of patronage: Identifying the linkage between parties and public sector employment in Serbia

The justice of neoliberalism: moral ideology and redistributive politics of public-sector retrenchment in Serbia

“…In early 2014, Saša Radulović, a bankruptcy manager cum politician, kept repeating his pre‐election pitch about a ‘parasitic system’ involving 100,000 ‘partisan cadres with bought diplomas who don't work but get their salary’ ( Akter : n.p.). Accordingly, politicians promised to implement a public‐sector ‘depoliticisation’, ‘professionalisation’ or ‘departicisation’ (Dragojević and Konitzer ). Hiring and public resource allocation in general would become based on competitive, meritocratic and fair tenders through another neoliberal policy of quasi markets in the public sector (Jessop : 71).…”

“…While Serbian trade unions are generally weak, they are stronger in the public sector, which means they were able to protect the workers’ interests somewhat better (Arandarenko 2011: 45; Lazić : 218–25). Finally, evidence suggests that partisan and nepotistic hiring has been common (Dragojević and Konitzer ; Pešić ), though in an absence of reliable data it was subject to exaggeration and moral panic.…”