Local Security and Role of MPs

Public Policy Research CENTRE has started implementing a new project "Local Security and Role of MPs" in January 2017. The project is supported by the Democratization Department of the OSCE Mission to Serbia. 

Insufficient knowledge about security issues affecting specific local context, and a distinctive distrust in state institutions, especially in the National Assembly and political parties, are prominent characteristics of security and political environment in Serbia. The current electoral system, which leaves citizens without direct representation by a fellow citizen, contributes to lack of effective mechanisms for integrating local perspective in process of creating public policies. This is particularly relevant when it comes to involvement of mechanisms for control, oversight and evaluation of security policies. The aim of the project is to contribute to the strengthened cooperation between the state and civil society in identifying major (human) security issues affecting municipal level and strengthening horizontal and vertical cooperation within endeavours to enhance security governance and democratic control of security sector. 

Youth security, migtants' crisis and gender-based violence are the main topics covered by qualitative research that CENTRE will conduct in three local communities in Serbia. Key findings of the fieldwork will be formulated in the form of three tailored-made policy briefs, while the final one will provide an overall insight in security threats in observed communities. The project team consists of Tanja JakobiMarina TadicJelena Sapic, and Filip Stojanovic. 

The project relies on earlier CENTRE's endeavours to thoroughly examine human security issues. It also represents a follow-up of the previous CENTRE's research on local security of youth conducted in 2015 in Cacak, Zrenjanin, and Pozarevac. The main results are available in Serbian here