The Balkans Triangle: Serbia between the EU and Russia in 2000s
Looking at the experience of Serbia this article seeks to understand and evaluate Serbia's politics in the context of the EU enlargement in the light of the recent crisis in Ukraine that led to a dramatic split in Russia-EU relations. Serbia's path to the EU has been long and problematic, with Serbia recovering from economic turmoil, difficulties of post-conflict reconstruction, destructive floods of 2014, and tense relations with its Balkan neighbors. By applying Levitsky and Way's theoretical framework that stresses the importance of an external actor in the democratization process (the importance of leverage and linkage vis-a-vis the democratizing state) and the analysis of linkages / leverage with counter-hegemonic state, we argue that in examining competing linkages / leverages, we must acknowledge the importance of the interplay between the powerful actors as well. The article concludes that the Ukrainian crisis offers Serbia an opportunity to exit the «gray zone» as defined by Thomas Carothers, as well as it gives the EU the chance to deepen its influence in Western Balkans.
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Keywords
Россия, Сербия, ЕС, Балканы, кризис, внешняя политика, Russia, Serbia, the Balkans, crisis, foreign policyAuthors
| Name | Organization | |
| Nelaeva Galina A. | Tyumen State University | gnelaeva@mail.ru |
| Semenov Andrey V. | Perm State University | andre.semenoff@gmail.com |
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