On all four sides:shock of Serbian diplomacy’s Five Years Plan?

Rivista di Studi Politici Internazionali. 2013. Vol. 80. No. 3/4. P. 535–553.

Entina E.

For many years the Balkan region has been the scene of a collision of interests of great powers. Being one of the central links of the region, Serbia throughout its history has experienced multidirectional and often mutually exclusive influences of certain world powers. The end of XX and the beginning of XXI century became the turning point for the entire Balkans region where all the countries of the region have chose the European perspective. However, for some of them the path to Europe has turned out to be fraught with incredible difficulties, often associated with the choice between a recognized membership in the modern world and the preservation of national dignity. For the Serbs this question turned out to be the key one. Based on the methods of phenomenology, behaviourism and comparative analysis, the Author of the article demonstrates that the most important factor in achieving the goals for Serbia is the need for a competently conducted foreign policy. The subject of this article is the analysis of the features of Serbian foreign policy during the last five years, after a new political team came to power. Having comprehensively considered the foreign policy aspects, the Author concludes that for many countries Serbia is still a strategically important and attractive market in the region, the core of the Western Balkans area. With skillful manoeuvring between the interests of others and their own main foreign policy objectives, Serbian diplomacy could achieve more rapid, painless, and most importantly, more favorable terms of membership in the common European family.

Keywords: serbia