INTERNATIONAL INTEGRATION AS AN INSTRUMENT OF GEOPOLITICS
Milošević, Zoran, Dajana Lazarević (eds.). 2024. International Integration as an Instrument of Geopolitics. Belgrade: Institute for Political Studies. ISBN 978-86-7419-401-0
Proceedings of the International Scientific Conference of the Institute for Political Studies, Belgrade, held on November 25 and 26, 2024.
The history of political integration is not a product of the European Union and NATO. It has existed for a long time and has led to more or less concrete (harmful or positive) results in different parts of the world. When considering integration in the Balkans, it is noticeable that the largest nation – the Serbs – did not have any special opportunities to gather all their people into one state after liberation, because Europe did not want a strong state in the Balkans, which, moreover, is a “second” or “little Russia”.
The history of integration in the Balkans is very interesting. In recent history, it all started with the Vienna-Vatican Illyrian idea, which was supposed to convert the Serbs to Catholicism and lose their national and libertarian identity. Then came the various “Balkan alliances”, which led to the achievement of certain goals, but Europe would quickly destroy them and quarrel their peoples. And then everything started from scratch. When the idea of Yugoslavism emerged, it had two directions. The first, towards the creation of Austro-Slavism, i.e. for the Slavs, led by the Croats, to accept the Habsburgs as their dynasty. The second, towards the creation of a community of Balkan Slavs, including the Bulgarians. The idea of Yugoslavism deteriorated over time and led, during the reign of Josip Broz Tito, to the policy of “Weak Serbia – Strong Yugoslavia”. Thus, Serbia, the only republic, received two autonomous provinces, and Southern Serbia was taken away and given to the newly proclaimed people – the Macedonians. After all, comes the idea of the “European Union”, or Euro-Atlantic integration, the goal of which is to create a unified “European front” against Russia. Perhaps more instinctively than rationally, the Serbian people resisted these integrations and somehow “through their teeth” uttered: “NO – to Euro-Atlantic integrations; YES – to the Serbian world!” <br><br>
What distinguishes this collection is that there was little discussion of the European Union. In contrast, the “Serbian world”, the Federal State of Russia, Belarus and the possibility of its expansion, BRICS+, the Slavic Alliance, the East Slavic Alliance, but also pan-Turkic and pan-Romanian integrations, as well as religious (dis)integrations, were analyzed.
Despite the large number of participants from as many as 12 countries: the USA, Great Britain, Belgium, Slovakia, Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belarus, Russia, and of course – Serbia, with a total of 29 scientific papers, the editors of the proceedings concluded that the contributors did not “cover” all integration projects and ideas, but they did make a significant contribution to understanding the problems of international integration. They showed that Euro-Atlantic integration, after all, has an alternative.
