Jelena Vidojević

Co-Founder and Research Fellow

Jelena Vidojević is the Co-Founder of the New South Institute (NSI), together with Ivor Chipkin. Before moving to South Africa she worked as an Assistant Professor of Social Policy at the University of Belgrade – Faculty of Political Sciences, where she wrote and taught on comparative and global social policy. At GAPP she has continued her work on social policy, focusing on welfare reforms in South Africa with a special interest in the Universal Basic Income Grant. She is also responsible for expanding and developing the field of comparative public policy. In this regard her work focuses on the New South, bringing South African and African experiences into conversation with South America, Asia and more especially Eastern Europe. She received her PhD in Political Science from the University of Belgrade. She has been a visiting researcher at the University of Oslo (Department of Sociology and Human Geography), University of Cape Town (Department of Political Studies), University of Witwatersrand (School of Social Sciences) and The Institute of Advanced Studies, Vienna. She has twice won an Open Society Scholars Award.

Publications

Scholarly Articles

1. Nakarada, R., & 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). https://doi.org/10.20901/pp.13.2.02
2. Vidojević, J. (2022). Cash transfer programs in Southern Africa: The emergence of the new welfare states? Ревија за социјална политика [Review for Social Policy], 15(18), December 2022. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.37509/socpol221807v
3. Chipkin, I., & Vidojević, J. (2022). Time and temporality in organisations: The case of Eskom. Development Southern Africa, 39(2), 237-250. DOI: 10.1080/0376835X.2021.1981829.
4. Vidojević, J., & Chipkin, I. (2021). The gendered character of welfare: reconsidering vulnerability and violence in South Africa. Social Dynamics, 47(3), 472-487. DOI: 10.1080/02533952.2021.1992878.
5. Perišić, N., & Vidojević, J. (2020). Conceptualizing Poverty in the Social Policy and Practice of Socialist Yugoslavia. Politicka Misao [Political Thought], 57(3), 150-173. https://doi.org/10.20901/pm.57.3.06 (In Serbian)
6. Perišić, N. Vidojević, J. (2018). Gender Mainstreaming: Challenges of the Concept and its Implementation in Social Policy. Yearbook of the Faculty of Political Sciences, year XII/19. pp. 29-53. (In Serbian)
7. Perišić, N., & Vidojević, J. (2018). Socijalna politika i socijalni rad: Pregledni naučni članak [Social Policy and Social Work: Review Scientific Article]. In D. R. Simić (Ed.), Godišnjak Jun 2018 (pp. 29-50). Beograd: Univerzitet u Beogradu – Fakultet političkih nauka.
8. Džuverović, N. 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., & Vidojević, J. (Forthcoming). Theory from the Non-Aligned Movement and the Global South and their Afterlives. Jacana Publishing.
2. (ed.) Nakarada, R., Vidojević, J. (2018). Nobel Peace Prize: From Idealism to Political Cynicism. Centre for Peace Studies – University of Belgrade. Retrieved from https://nsi.org.za/publications/nobel-peace-prize-and-anti-apartheid-struggle-in-south-africa-building-a-rainbow-nation/ (in Serbian)

Book chapters

1. Vidojević, J. (2023, November). South African welfare state and the prospects of introducing a universal basic income grant. (Book chapter) in Routledge Handbook on Welfare States.
2. Vidojević, J. (2018). Nobel Peace Prize and Anti-Apartheid Struggle in South Africa: Building a Rainbow Nation. In: (eds.) Nakarada, R. Vidojević, J. Nobel Peace Prize: From Idealism to Political Cynicism. Belgrade: Centre for Peace Studies – University of Belgrade. 
3. Peršić N., Vidojević, J. (2018). Feminist Deconstruction and Reconstruction of the Welfare State. in: Someone Said Feminism? Feminist theory in Serbia today. (eds.) Zaharijević, A. and Lončarević K. Belgrade: Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory and University of Belgrade – Faculty of Political Science. Retrieved from https://nsi.org.za/publications/feminist-deconstruction-and-reconstruction-of-the-welfare-state/ (In Serbian)

Policy Documents

1. Nakarada, R., & Vidojević, J. (2023). Empowering the periphery: The transition process in post-apartheid South Africa and post-conflict Republic of Serbia. Working paper. Retrieved from https://nsi.org.za/publications/empowering-the-periphery-an-analysis-of-post-conflict-transitions-in-south-africa-and-the-republic-of-serbia/
2. Chipkin, I., Vidojević, J., Rau, L., & Saksenberg, D. (2022). Dangerous Elites: Protest, conflict and the future of South Africa (Southern Africa Report 49). Johannesburg: Institute for Security Studies (ISS) and Government and Public Policy (GAPP). Retrieved from https://nsi.org.za/publications/dangerous-elites-protest-conflict-and-the-future-of-south-africa/
3. Chipkin, I., & Vidojević, J. (2020). Overcoming the Challenges of Governance: A New Way of Monitoring and Predicting Organisational Capacity. GAPP Working Paper, 1(3). Retrieved from https://nsi.org.za/publications/overcoming-the-challenges-of-governance-a-new-way-of-monitoring-and-predicting-organisational-capacity/

Additional Works

1. Vidojević, J., & Nakarada, R. (2023, June 15). In conversation with William I. Robinson [Interview]. Brave New Europe. Retrieved from https://braveneweurope.com/jelena-vidojevic-and-radmila-nakarada-in-conversation-with-william-i-robinson
2. Nakarada, R., & Vidojević, J. (2020, November 10). Life in a time of global civil war: In conversation with Pankaj Mishra [Interview]. Daily Maverick. Retrieved from https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-11-10-life-in-a-time-of-global-civil-war-in-conversation-with-pankaj-mishra/

Editorials

1. Vidojević, J. (2023, November 30). Another world is possible, or how we can learn to stop worrying and love the crisis. Global Government Forum. Retrieved from https://www.globalgovernmentforum.com/another-world-is-possible-or-how-we-can-learn-to-stop-worrying-and-love-the-crisis/
2. Chipkin, I., & Vidojević, J. (2023, October 26). Africa is not a Country. Brave New Europe. Retrieved from https://braveneweurope.com/ivor-chipkin-jelena-vidojevic-africa-is-not-a-country
3. Vidojević, J. (2023, July 30). In pursuit of public good: the need for a welfare revolution in South Africa. Global Government Forum. Retrieved from https://www.globalgovernmentforum.com/in-pursuit-of-public-good-the-need-for-a-welfare-revolution-in-south-africa/
4. Vidojević, J. (2023, February 20). Making best practice better: how governments can learn the right lessons from each other. Global Government Forum. Retrieved from https://www.globalgovernmentforum.com/making-best-practice-better-how-governments-can-learn-the-right-lessons-from-each-other/
5. Van den Heever, A., Chipkin, I., Vidojević, J., & Eliseeva, A. (2021, November 4). Why South Africa needs a universal basic income grant. New Frame. Retrieved from https://www.newframe.com/why-south-africa-needs-a-universal-basic-income-grant/
6. Chipkin, I., & Vidojević, J. (2020, April 29). Universal Basic Income Grant: When nothing is affordable, we had better choose the best unaffordable solution. Daily Maverick. Retrieved from 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/
7. Vidojević, J., & Chipkin, I. (2019, October 31). Breaking Eskom’s death spiral: The answer’s in the data. Daily Maverick. Retrieved from https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2019-10-31-breaking-eskoms-death-spiral-the-answers-in-the-data/