J 2024

You are either with us, or against us : the small state of Serbia between domestic ambition and external pressures

VUČKOVIĆ, Vladimir and Branislav RADELJIČ

Basic information

Original name

You are either with us, or against us : the small state of Serbia between domestic ambition and external pressures

Authors

VUČKOVIĆ, Vladimir and Branislav RADELJIČ

Edition

COGENT SOCIAL SCIENCES, ENGLAND, FRANCIS AS, 2024, 2331-1886

Other information

Language

English

Type of outcome

Article in a journal

Country of publisher

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Confidentiality degree

is not subject to a state or trade secret

References:

Organization

Fakulta sociálních studií – Repository – Repository

UT WoS

001288453600001

EID Scopus

2-s2.0-85201206819

Keywords in English

Serbia; EU; China; Russia; COVID-19; Kosovo; Ukraine

Links

MUNI/A/1475/2023, interní kód Repo.
Changed: 11/3/2025 00:51, RNDr. Daniel Jakubík

Abstract

V originále

This article examines the position of Serbia as a small state in the context of external pressures, largely reflecting an ambition to balance the East and the West. While clearly interested in offers and benefits from collaboration with both geostrategic realms, Serbia’s authorities have always left space for possible alternatives—a trend that is expected to serve power preservation or to inform external players to what extent Serbia is keen on balancing and juxtaposing great powers in the region. While analyzing the limited case of the Covid-19 pandemic and the never-ending case of Kosovo, additionally actualized by the Russo-Ukrainian war, the present study suggests that Serbia is at the crossroads between growing ambitions and the real limitations of what its smallness can achieve. The paper concludes that Serbian foreign policy contains all the prerogatives of movement without a goal, a search for strategic partnerships, but without a coherent political vision—an approach that generates suspicion of being labelled as distracted and unreliable.

Files attached