The Neoliberal Feminist Divestment from Care in Domestic Violence Prevention Advocacy in Serbia and Croatia

Drawing on abolition feminism and critical feminist discourse analysis, the article critiques the overreliance of the mainstream feminist advocacy on the police and criminal legal system as the solution for femicide and gendered violence. Our article aims to investigate how carceral politics constructs the ways in which domestic violence is understood and approached in Croatia and Serbia, and how such politics constrains and conditions material care for survivors. During the last few years, we trace the path of local feminisms in becoming increasingly immersed in the interests of the punitive state, and the implications for the lives of the people they claim to represent. Analyzing recent research and policy documents from Serbia and Croatia, we are committed to documenting these tendencies and to their critical consideration.