SERBIA IN THE "WEST": Serbia's two-century-long crucifixion between modernization and westernization
Glisin, Vanja. 2024. Serbia in the “West”: Serbian Two-Century Crucifixion between Modernization and Westernization. Belgrade: Institute for Political Studies; Novi Sad: Archives of Vojvodina. ISBN 978-86-7419-389-1 (IPS) ISBN 978-86-6178-100-1 (AV)
New book published by the Institute for Political Studies, Belgrade and the Archives of Vojvodina SERBIA IN THE “WEST” – Serbian Two-Century Crucifixion between Modernization and Westernization, by Dr. Vanja Glisin.
This monograph was created on the basis of the amended and supplemented text of the doctoral dissertation “Challenges of Post-Cold War Democratization and Serbia’s Position Between Euro-Atlanticism and Neo-Eurasianism”, by Vanja Glisin, defended at the Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Belgrade on June 12, 2023.
The motivation and need to conduct a multidisciplinary research stemmed, according to the author, from the fact that Serbia has been in a complex geopolitical position for centuries, which is either overestimated or underestimated, as a result of which, often, the scientific and social public is left without an answer.
Although, at first glance, the topic seems too broad, with a beginning but no possibility of reaching a well-founded end, the research results show that by analyzing the subject and problems of the research at the strategic and tactical level and by multi-causal inference, well-founded answers are actually reached that justify the view that Serbia and Serbian society are at a two-century crossroads between modernization and Westernization.
By analyzing Serbia's position in international relations, we would gain certain insights at the foreign policy level, such as international cooperation, bilateral agreements, diplomatic visits and negotiations, economic exchange, and the like, but we would often remain without an answer to the question "Why is Serbia's position in international relations complex and unfavorable over several centuries of continuity?". Therefore, there is a need for geopolitics and geopolitical research methods, which are a kind of key to understanding international relations and decoding the complex context that affects the complexity of the position of a state and the processes taking place in it. Specifically, Serbia has been in the process of modernization and democratization since the establishment of the modern Serbian state in the 19th century until today, and these processes can be monitored at the domestic political level, which will lead us to the conclusion that they are nonlinear and variable, with periods of stagnation or regression. On the other hand, if we position Serbia on the world political map, primarily between the East and the West or the two opposing poles of power, Russia and the United States of America, we will see why the international position of the Serbian state is complex and how this is reflected in domestic political processes. However, we gain a more comprehensive insight by simultaneously analyzing these two levels, and hence the subject and problem of the research formulated in this way.
The layering of the scientific monograph, therefore, aims to familiarize the scientific and social public, first of all, with the basic conceptual and categorical apparatus and theoretical frameworks in the domain of political science, international relations and geopolitics, which is the strategic level of analysis, in order to then, at the tactical level of analysis, identify key aspects of the application of geopolitical constants in the current sequence of events, through a concrete explication of the interests hidden behind these processes.
There is a primal need to modernize the Serbian state and society to its full capacity. However, on the other hand, the process of Westernization is an ideological conceptual and apparent form that, under the veil of modernization, hides the geopolitical motivations and goals of the leading Western states to carry out the civilizational conversion of non-Western-type societies into the civilizational circle of the West. Civilizational conversion does not imply the modernization of a state and society, but the creation of a disorganized state that will represent an outsider in the civilizational circle of the West.
Bearing the above in mind, the author has sought, from a Serbian perspective, to point out the Serbian crossroads between modernization and Westernization, decoding the actors and processes behind such an unfavorable position, and, by highlighting numerous erroneous and nationally unacceptable decisions, to prevent the continuation of Serbia's "unalternative" wandering.
