Jelena Vidojević

Co-Founder and Head of South-South Dialogues Program

Jelena Vidojević is the Co-Founder of the New South Institute (NSI), alongside Ivor Chipkin. Jelena’s work is driven by a strong commitment to advancing social policy reforms that contribute to more equitable and effective governance, both in South Africa and beyond. Before moving to South Africa, she was an Assistant Professor of Social Policy at the University of Belgrade’s Faculty of Political Sciences, where she focused on comparative and global social policy. At the NSI she has continued her work on social policy, with a particular focus on welfare reforms in South Africa. Her research places a strong emphasis on the Universal Basic Income Grant, examining its potential impact and feasibility within the South African context. Additionally, she plays a key role in expanding and developing a programme on South-South dialogues. Her work actively connects South African and broader African policy experiences with those of South America, Asia, and, in particular, Eastern Europe.

Jelena holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Belgrade and has been a visiting researcher at several prestigious institutions, including the University of Oslo, University of Cape Town, University of Witwatersrand, and the Institute of Advanced Studies in Vienna. Her expertise has earned her two Open Society Scholars Awards. Her research and insights continue to shape the mission of NSI in fostering better policy solutions for the New South.

Publications

Scholarly Articles

1. Nakarada, R. and Vidojević, J. (2023) ‘Basic Analytical Assumptions of Empowering the Periphery: The Telling Experiences of South Africa and the Republic of Serbia’, Politčke Perspektive, 13(2). doi: 10.20901/pp.13.2.02.
2. Vidojević, J. (2022) ‘Cash transfer programs in Southern Africa: the emergence of the new welfare states?’, Review for Social Policy, 15(18) (December). doi: 10.37509/socpol221807v.
3. Chipkin, I. and Vidojević, J. (2022) ‘Time and temporality in organisations: the case of Eskom’, Development Southern Africa, 39(2), pp. 237–250. doi: 10.1080/0376835X.2021.1981829.
4. Vidojević, J. and Chipkin, I. (2021) ‘The gendered character of welfare: reconsidering vulnerability and violence in South Africa’, Social Dynamics, 47(3), pp. 472–487. doi: 10.1080/02533952.2021.1992878.
5. Perišić, N. and Vidojević, J. (2020) ‘Conceptualizing poverty in the social policy and practice of socialist Yugoslavia’, Politicka Misao, 57(3), pp. 150–173. doi: 10.20901/pm.57.3.06. (In Serbian).
6. Perišić, N. and Vidojević, J. (2018) ‘Gender mainstreaming: challenges of the concept and its implementation in social policy’, Yearbook of the Faculty of Political Sciences, XII/19, pp. 29–53. (In Serbian).
7. Perišić, N. and Vidojević, J. (2018) ‘Socijalna politika i socijalni rad: pregledni naučni članak [Social policy and social work: review scientific article]’, in Simić, D. R. (ed.) Godišnjak, June. Belgrade: University of Belgrade – Faculty of Political Sciences, pp. 29–50. (In Serbian).
8. Džuverović, N. and Vidojević, J. (2017) ‘Peacebuilding or “peacedelaying”: social exclusion of refugees and internally displaced persons in post-war Serbia’, Ethnopolitics, pp. 55–70.

Books

1. Chipkin, I., Khan, F., Nakarada, R., Stubbs, P. and Vidojević, J. (forthcoming) Theory from the Non-Aligned Movement and the Global South and Their Afterlives. Johannesburg: Jacana Publishing.
2. Nakarada, R. and Vidojević, J. (eds) (2018) Nobel Peace Prize: From Idealism to Political Cynicism. Belgrade: Centre for Peace Studies – University of Belgrade. Available at: https://nsi.org.za/publications/nobel-peace-prize-and-anti-apartheid-struggle-in-south-africa-building-a-rainbow-nation/ (Accessed: 10 July 2025). (In Serbian).

Book Chapters

1. Vidojević, J. (2023) The South African Welfare State System: A Special Focus on Universal Basic Income, in Routledge Handbook on Welfare States. London: Routledge (November).
2. Vidojević, J. (2018) ‘Nobel Peace Prize and anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa: building a rainbow nation’, in Nakarada, R. and Vidojević, J. (eds) Nobel Peace Prize: From Idealism to Political Cynicism. Belgrade: Centre for Peace Studies – University of Belgrade.
3. Perišić, N. and Vidojević, J. (2018) ‘Feminist deconstruction and reconstruction of the welfare state’, in Zaharijević, A. and Lončarević, K. (eds) Someone Said Feminism? Feminist Theory in Serbia Today. Belgrade: Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory & University of Belgrade – Faculty of Political Science. Available at: https://nsi.org.za/publications/feminist-deconstruction-and-reconstruction-of-the-welfare-state/ (Accessed: 10 July 2025). (In Serbian).

Policy Documents

1. Vidojević, J. and Chipkin, I. (2025). The Making of a Settler Colony: Israel, the Non-Aligned Movement, and the Politics of Third World Solidarity. NSI Working Paper No. 01/2025. New South Institute.
2. Nakarada, R. and Vidojević, J. (2023) Empowering the Periphery: The Transition Process in Post-Apartheid South Africa and Post-Conflict Republic of Serbia. Working paper. Available at: https://nsi.org.za/publications/empowering-the-periphery-an-analysis-of-post-conflict-transitions-in-south-africa-and-the-republic-of-serbia/ (Accessed: 10 July 2025).
3. Chipkin, I., Vidojević, J., Rau, L. and Saksenberg, D. (2022) Dangerous Elites: Protest, Conflict and the Future of South Africa (Southern Africa Report 49). Johannesburg: Institute for Security Studies (ISS) & Government and Public Policy (GAPP). Available at: https://nsi.org.za/publications/dangerous-elites-protest-conflict-and-the-future-of-south-africa/ (Accessed: 10 July 2025).
4. Chipkin, I. and Vidojević, J. (2020) Overcoming the Challenges of Governance: A New Way of Monitoring and Predicting Organisational Capacity. GAPP Working Paper 1(3). Available at: https://nsi.org.za/publications/overcoming-the-challenges-of-governance-a-new-way-of-monitoring-and-predicting-organisational-capacity/ (Accessed: 10 July 2025).

Interviews

1. Vidojević, J., 2025. Jelena Vidojević in conversation with Yang Yao [Interview]. New South Institute, 15 August.
2. Vidojević, J., 2025. Jelena Vidojević in conversation with Amy Niang [Interview]. New South Institute, 16 June.
3. Karaganov, S.A., 2025. Understanding the Current Monumental Geopolitical Changes. Interviewed by J. Vidojević. Russia in Global Affairs, 3 June. Available at: https://eng.globalaffairs.ru [Accessed 13 July 2025].
4. Vidojević, J., 2025. Jelena Vidojević in conversation with Shivshankar Menon [Interview]. New South Institute, 3 June.
5. Vidojević, J., 2025. Jelena Vidojević in conversation with Miloš Hrnjaz [Interview]. New South Institute, 29 May.
6. Vidojević, J., 2025. Jelena Vidojević in conversation with Ayşe Zarakol [Interview]. New South Institute, 23 May.
7. Vidojević, J., 2025. Jelena Vidojević in conversation with Sergey Karaganov [Interview]. New South Institute, 14 May.
8. Vidojević, J. and Nakarada, R., 2024. Russia and Global South: trusted ally or strategic opportunist? Q&A with Prof Vladimir Golstein [Interview]. News24, 28 November. Available at: https://www.news24.com/news24/opinions/analysis/russia-and-strategic-opportunist-qa-with-prof-vladimir-golstein-20241128 [Accessed 10 July 2025].
9. Vidojević, J. and Nakarada, R., 2023. In conversation with William I. Robinson [Interview]. Brave New Europe, 15 June. Available at: https://braveneweurope.com/jelena-vidojevic-and-radmila-nakarada-in-conversation-with-william-i-robinson [Accessed 10 July 2025].
10. Nakarada, R. and Vidojević, J., 2020. Life in a time of global civil war: in conversation with Pankaj Mishra [Interview]. Daily Maverick, 10 November. Available at: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-11-10-life-in-a-time-of-global-civil-war-in-conversation-with-pankaj-mishra/ [Accessed 10 July 2025].

Editorials

1. Vidojević, J. and Hrnjaz, M. (2025) ‘Worldmaking in Transition: Africa and the Post-Western Global Order’, Brave New Europe, 25 September. Available at: https://braveneweurope.com/jelena-vidojevic-milos-hrnjaz-worldmaking-in-transition-africa-and-the-post-western-global-order (Accessed: 26 September 2025).
2. Vidojević, J. (2023) ‘Another world is possible, or how we can learn to stop worrying and love the crisis’, Global Government Forum, 30 November. Available at: https://www.globalgovernmentforum.com/another-world-is-possible-or-how-we-can-learn-to-stop-worrying-and-love-the-crisis/ (Accessed: 10 July 2025).
3. Chipkin, I. and Vidojević, J. (2023) ‘Africa is not a country’, Brave New Europe, 26 October. Available at: https://braveneweurope.com/ivor-chipkin-jelena-vidojevic-africa-is-not-a-country (Accessed: 10 July 2025).
4. Vidojević, J. (2023) ‘In pursuit of public good: the need for a welfare revolution in South Africa’, Global Government Forum, 30 July. Available at: https://www.globalgovernmentforum.com/in-pursuit-of-public-good-the-need-for-a-welfare-revolution-in-south-africa/ (Accessed: 10 July 2025).
5. Vidojević, J. (2023) ‘Making best practice better: how governments can learn the right lessons from each other’, Global Government Forum, 20 February. Available at: https://www.globalgovernmentforum.com/making-best-practice-better-how-governments-can-learn-the-right-lessons-from-each-other/ (Accessed: 10 July 2025).
6. Van den Heever, A., Chipkin, I., Vidojević, J. and Eliseeva, A. (2021) ‘Why South Africa needs a universal basic income grant’, New Frame, 4 November. Available at: https://www.newframe.com/why-south-africa-needs-a-universal-basic-income-grant/ (Accessed: 10 July 2025).
7. Chipkin, I. and Vidojević, J. (2020) ‘Universal basic income grant: when nothing is affordable, we had better choose the best unaffordable solution’, Daily Maverick, 29 April. Available at: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-04-29-universal-basic-income-grant-when-nothing-is-affordable-we-had-better-choose-the-best-unaffordable-solution/ (Accessed: 10 July 2025).
8. Vidojević, J. and Chipkin, I. (2019) ‘Breaking Eskom’s death spiral: the answer’s in the data’, Daily Maverick, 31 October. Available at: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2019-10-31-breaking-eskoms-death-spiral-the-answers-in-the-data/ (Accessed: 10 July 2025).