Dr. Aleksandra Kolaković

France has a long tradition of cultural and scientific influence in the Balkan region, and historically especially in Serbia and in the countries formed on the territory of the former Yugoslavia (Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, Kingdom of Yugoslavia). The aforementioned influence, which followed its economic and political influence, was founded not only on the basis of the Alliance in the Great War (1914–1918), but primarily on the basis of the education and training of the Serbs and Balkans at the Sorbonne and at other French universities. After returning to their homeland, they not only occupied key positions in the state administration and reached ministerial positions, but also founded scientific disciplines and continued cooperation with their French professors and scientists. This historically long scientific cooperation, which showed elements of „science diplomacy“, was also a foundation for creating France's scientific cooperation with Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania (the countries of the Western Balkans, under which France also includes Kosovo. Through the analysis of available documents, press, interviews and statements of officials and diplomats, as well as scientists participating in joint projects, our main goal is to research the role of France in strengthening scientific cooperation in Serbia and the Western Balkans. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of the results of the “Pavle Savić” cooperation program, scientific cooperation in the Danube region and ES-Balk program, enable the observation of France's activities in the Balkans in the context of the scope of scientific diplomacy. Our research shows that since the Strategy for the Western Balkans (2019), France has been continuously committed to the development of political, economic and cultural cooperation with the countries in the Balkans, with more intensive scientific cooperation in accordance with the basic principles of France's science diplomacy strategy. It is observed that France insists on regional projects in the field of science, which contain a strong European component. Paper give recommendations for further cooperation in the field of science. The focus is on the special importance of the transfer of knowledge and the role of science in the framework of diplomacy, and therefore the role of France in the Balkans will also be research through this prism.

Au cœur de l'analyse du discours appliqué à ce travail scientifique se trouve la notion des Balkans occidentaux, c'est-à-dire son apparition dans le quotidien français Le Monde dans la période du 1er juillet 2013 au 31 décembre 2020. L'analyse a été menée en recherchant dans les archives les mots clés mentionnés : les Balkans occidentaux, les Balkans, la Serbie, la Macédoine (du Nord), l’Albanie, la Bosnie-Herzégovine, le Monténégro, le Kosovo*, l’élargissement de l'UE. Sur la base de ces recherches, 58 textes ont été publiés (les textes faisant référence à la rubrique sport n'ont pas été retenus dans l'analyse finale). Afin de fournir une interprétation complète, le document a également utilisé une analyse contextuelle en présentant les attitudes de la France et de l'UE envers les Balkans occidentaux au cours de la période observée. La première chose que l'on peut remarquer est que dans les textes analysés deux points de vue s'entremêlent : le point de vue de la France et le point de vue de l'Union européenne, on peut même conclure que le point de vue de l'Union européenne est plus visible, parce qu’il a été publié plusieurs textes dans lesquels la région est vue dans une perspective européenne, qu'il s'agisse de l'élargissement de l'Union ou de la crise des migrants et de la route des Balkans. En ce qui concerne le point de vue français sur les Balkans occidentaux, on peut observer deux périodes dans cette période : de 2013 à 2017 et de 2017 à 2020. Ces deux périodes correspondent aux mandats présidentiels de François Hollande et Emanuel Macron. Pour l'administration de François Hollande, les Balkans occidentaux étaient au second plan, ce qui est confirmé par le nombre de textes publiés, à savoir, 23. La raison pour laquelle cette région est venue occasionnellement à l'agenda de l'Elysée est la crise des migrants et la situation sur la route des Balkans, mais le président français a suivi le point de vue de l'Allemagne sur ces questions, ainsi que des tentatives infructueuses de mettre en œuvre une politique européenne commune à l'égard des demandeurs d'asile. A partir de la mi-2017, nous entrons dans la deuxième période où Emanuel Macron prendra la tête de l'administration. Avec lui, il s'ouvre un nouveau chapitre dans les relations entre la France et cette région, c'est-à-dire mettre la région au centre de l'attention. En plus de la nouvelle vision française des Balkans occidentaux, nous avons également une nouvelle vision française de l'élargissement de l'UE à travers l'insistance de Macron sur l'adoption d'une nouvelle méthodologie d'élargissement, qui a finalement été adoptée par la Commission européenne en 2020. Le retour des Balkans occidentaux au centre de l'administration française est confirmé par l'augmentation du nombre de textes publiés dans la deuxième période de mai 2017 à décembre 2020 - un total de 35.

Book review: Julian Jackson. 2018. A Certain Idea of France The life of Charles de Gaulle. London: Penguin Random House UK, pp. 887.

In Serbia, the Great War (1914–1918) and the Salonica Front are typically associated with a powerful image in collective memory. Therefore, it is very important to examine the veracity and origin of mental images, which may be formed under the influence of historians, publications, history textbooks, state policy, politicians, artists, newspapers and social networks. This paper aims to explore the ways the war is remembered in Serbia and and its self-perception through public commemoration. The aim is to throw light on the role and importance of historical knowledge, as well as, the social role of marking the 100^th anniversary of the Great War and particularly the Salonica Front. The final aim is to devise recommendations on how to create objective representations of the past and to shape their influence on the society we are living. Underdeveloped cultural policy and the Yugoslav idea influenced on the blurred perceptions of events from 1914 to 1918. Salonica’s warriors have been already forgotten in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and later the memories of the two world wars were tied up in socialist Yugoslavia. Serbian Diaspora cherished the memory of the Salonica front and the other events of the Great War. The main features of the place of the Salonica front in the Serbian national memory were being disremembered and neglection the culture of remembrance, as well as identity. The centenary stressed the importance of continuous care about the culture of remembrance as an important factor in creating identity and consciousness about the present. In the case of the Great War, we recognize that the historical facts interpreted in new ways. Therefore, the role of professionals is crucial in creation of cultural policies and the raising path of the culture of remembrance in Serbian society. The important role of media and the Internet in implementation of the cultural policies contributed that the role of individuals becomes an essential element in the formation of the memories on the Salonica front. Remembering is also important in bilateral and multilateral relations between states. Culture of remembrance on the events remembered as a period of heroism, the greatest suffering and alliances in the Great War removes the stereotypical images of the Serbs, who were dominant from the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia, and also remembering on Salonica front could be an indirect factor in the repositioning of Serbia in international relations.

Book review: Ljiljana Rogač Mijatović, Cultural Diplomacy and Identity of Serbia, Belgrade: Faculty of Dramatic Arts, Institute for Theatre, Film, Radio and Television, Clio, 2014, p. 211.

The generation of Serbian Intellectuals who were active in the political and public life of Serbia at the turn of 19th and 20th century were considering problems of maintaining the attained independence of Serbia, a search for reliable support in foreign policy, integration of the nation and further economic, social, and cultural development. In the Europe characterized with complex relationships between the great powers, ambitious imperialist plans, instability and conflicts which were leading to the Great War (1914–1918), the Serbian intelligentsia, prevailingly educated in European university centers, was striving to find ways of accomplishing the idea of liberation and unification. The change of orientation in Serbian foreign policy, which began in the last decade of 19th century and was definitely confirmed with the raise of the Karadjordjević Dynasty to the Serbian throne (1903), was a manifestation of the need of Serbian politicians and intellectuals to facilitate liberation from economic dependence, development of the state and the national idea, by edging away from the reliance on Austria-Hungary. From the Congress of Berlin (1878), via the Customs War (1906–1911), the Annexation Crisis (1908) and the Balkan Wars (1912–1913), the interest of Serbian intellectuals in the policy of Austria-Hungary in the Balkans was growing and intermingling with issues of the overall further development of Serbia. The aim of this paper is to shed a light onto the origins and development of the interest and the thinking of Serbian intellectuals regarding the policy and interests of Austria-Hungary in the Balkans in the period which immediately preceded World War I. The attitudes and thoughts of Serbian intellectuals which were published in periodicals (the Serbian Literary Gazette /Srpski književni glasnik/ and the Work /Delo/), press, brochures and books, are viewed in the context of Austro-Hungarian imperial thrust into the Balkans, which started with the occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and was definitely confirmed with the act of annexation and war plans. The efforts of Austria-Hungary to control the entire Balkans and occupy its central areas have also been studied in light of the confrontation between the two blocs of European powers, perception of the place of the Serbs and Serbia in the complicated international relations of the time, as well as in light of development of the Yugoslav idea, which was present among Serbian intellectuals prior to World War I.

Book review: М. Radojević, Lj. Dimić, Srbija u Velikom ratu 1914–1918 [Serbia in the Great War 1914– 1918], Belgrade, Srpska književna zadruga, Beogradski forum za svet ravnopravnih, special editions, Belgrade 2014, 300 p.