Semi-Authoritarianism Accepted: The European Union’s Problematic Involvement in Serbia

The relationship between Brussels and Belgrade has never been straightforward. Following the overthrow of Slobodan Milošević, EU authorities have welcomed different opposition forces and altogether failed to pursue reforms and consolidate institutional infrastructure. Accordingly, this paper examines the EU’s position vis-à-vis the increasing semiauthoritarianism in Serbia. It is argued that as long as the problematic Serbian elites pretend, or even manage to meet some of the EU’s expectations, the Brussels administration will continue to ignore the pursuit of a wide range of unfavourable domestic policies. Such an approach has regrettably given the Serbian regime the opportunity to cement its power base, thereby obstructing the implementation of any substantial democratic improvements

Kosovo 1998-2008: Human Rights from War to Independence

Serbs and Albanians have inhabited Kosovo for centuries. For Serbs, Kosovo is the core of the medieval Serbian kingdom. For Albanians, Kosovo is the cradle of their struggle for independence. With both parties feeling entitled to the territory of the province, the threat of conflict was never far away. At several points, human rights abuses were perpetrated by one group on the other. Deeper ethnic antagonisms led to the outbreak of conflict in Kosovo in 1998, culminating in January 1999. Having already dealt with conflicts in Croatia and Bosnia, the international community claimed to be well-prepared to approach the Kosovo issue and stop the atrocities. While bearing in mind the past and the present, this paper addresses the failures of both the international community and the local parties in regard to human rights protection.

"Europe 1989-2009: Rethinking the Break-up of Yugoslavia"

The collapse of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has encouraged proliferation of academic literature. This paper examines Western scholarship and, while broadly dividing factors that contributed to the state disintegration into two main categories (internal and external), questions what is yet to be analyzed in order to get a clearer picture about the Yugoslav drama. In this respect, the paper perceives non-state actors as important players capable of influencing decision-making processes. Thus, deeper understanding of activism perpetrated by diaspora groups, media and churches would be a valuable contribution to the existing scholarship

Russia’s Involvement in the Kosovo Case: Defending Serbian Interests or Securing Its Own Influence in Europe?

This article examines Russia’s involvement in the Kosovo question. It shows that the Russian leadership has generally favored the Serbian authorities, but more importantly for its own influence, that it felt the urge to oppose the 1999 NATO intervention and the post-interventionist Western rhetoric. The argument that Russia has been primarily concerned with strengthening its own position and that involvement in the Kosovo question was expected to serve such an ambition can also be better understood by looking at some recent discrepancies. Namely, the fact that Russia has strongly insisted on the principle of territorial integrity in the case of Serbia but then completely ignored it in the case of Ukraine shows that its loud advocacy of Serbian territorial integrity was merely a strategic instrument to be deployed in European official debates, especially when the post-1999 discussions about Kosovo’s final status took place

Kosovo 1998-2008: Human Rights from War to Independence

Serbs and Albanians have inhabited Kosovo for centuries. For Serbs, Kosovo is the core of the medieval Serbian kingdom. For Albanians, Kosovo is the cradle of their struggle for independence. With both parties feeling entitled to the territory of the province, the threat of conflict was never far away. At several points, human rights abuses were perpetrated by one group on the other. Deeper ethnic antagonisms led to the outbreak of conflict in Kosovo in 1998, culminating in January 1999. Having already dealt with conflicts in Croatia and Bosnia, the international community claimed to be well-prepared to approach the Kosovo issue and stop the atrocities. While bearing in mind the past and the present, this paper addresses the failures of both the international community and the local parties in regard to human rights protection

Kosovo 1998-2008: Human Rights from War to Independence

Serbs and Albanians have inhabited Kosovo for centuries. For Serbs, Kosovo is the core of the medieval Serbian kingdom. For Albanians, Kosovo is the cradle of their struggle for independence. With both parties feeling entitled to the territory of the province, the threat of conflict was never far away. At several points, human rights abuses were perpetrated by one group on the other. Deeper ethnic antagonisms led to the outbreak of conflict in Kosovo in 1998, culminating in January 1999. Having already dealt with conflicts in Croatia and Bosnia, the international community claimed to be well-prepared to approach the Kosovo issue and stop the atrocities. While bearing in mind the past and the present, this paper addresses the failures of both the international community and the local parties in regard to human rights protection

Independent Kosovo: A Threat for the Balkan Region?

Both political and security future of the Balkans highly depend on the conditions in a newly created state of Kosovo. Bearing in mind the ethnic Albanian leadership declared unilateral independence in February 2008 and without providing the Serbian minority with durable solution, this paper aims at exploring three possible scenarios following the Kosovo independence. It combines both sides' positions offering wider understanding why each of them feels entitled to the Kosovo's territory and what are the risks if that territory remains only in one side's hands. The three puzzling questions presented in this paper, supported by the concepts from different thinkers (Cox, Buzan, Wæver) are arguably among the least discussed ones in contemporary discourse about Kosovo's future

The regional implications of Kosovo’s policy of independence

No abstract available

University autonomy under democratic backsliding: a case study of a plagiarism investigation against Serbian Minister of Finance (2014–2019)

Scholars have documented a tendency of (semi-)authoritarian regimes to undermine university autonomy, mainly through organizational (de jure) changes. This paper presents a case study of a publicly triggered plagiarism investigation by the University of Belgrade into the doctoral thesis of the Serbian Minister of Finance, one of the key members of the increasingly authoritarian regime. The analysis finds a proceduralized and delayed response of the university’s leadership, which indicates lowered de facto autonomy from politics, despite the university’s continually high de jure autonomy. The investigation was closed only after a mobilization within the academic community which resulted in a university’s blockade that forced its leadership to retract the contentious thesis. The case study shows that, in contexts of democratic backsliding, political capture can extend farther than usually thought, impacting even the implementation of internal university standards. On the other hand, the analysis also shows that political capture is not necessarily irreversible and that academic community can mobilize to ‘undo’ it. This reinforces the notion of academic communities as value-driven groups capable of exerting peer pressure to override even authoritarian pressures. In order to understand the dynamic of the plagiarism inquiry in its entirety, we apply insights from theory of power to complement and overcome the limitations of the conventional theoretical frameworks on democratic backsliding and academic autonomy. autonomy

Independent Kosovo: A Threat for the Balkan Region?

Both political and security future of the Balkans highly depend on the conditions in a newly created state of Kosovo. Bearing in mind the ethnic Albanian leadership declared unilateral independence in February 2008 and without providing the Serbian minority with durable solution, this paper aims at exploring three possible scenarios following the Kosovo independence. It combines both sides' positions offering wider understanding why each of them feels entitled to the Kosovo's territory and what are the risks if that territory remains only in one side's hands. The three puzzling questions presented in this paper, supported by the concepts from different thinkers (Cox, Buzan, Wæver) are arguably among the least discussed ones in contemporary discourse about Kosovo's future