"Who is He When He's at Home? Reconciling Serbia's Post-Conflict Political Identity with EU Accession"

This paper aims to evaluate Serbia’s EU membership process and potential consequences for domestic power dilution given recent anti-government demonstrations in Belgrade; political tensions and instability posed by departing from a political narrative established through conflict. Milošević-era ideologies and atrocity denial have become key parts of Serbia’s post-conflict memory and identity that had bolstered the current administration, but now poses its biggest threat. Integration of Milošević-administration actors like Vučić into post-conflict political apparatus has seen a precarious balance in which leaders attempt to cater to a base maintained through nationalist ideologies and victimhood-rhetoric while capitulating to the international community with good faith indicators of progress, like remanding Mladić to the Hague. The domestic backlash against the arrest of Mladić indicates a growing divide between the national identity formed in the crucible of wartime and the image conveyed internationally. The utilization of historical and religious mythologies to justify the inclusion of Kosovo in the pursuit of ‘Greater Serbia’ overshadows political discourse as acknowledgement of Kosovo is a key EU requirement- a 2018 RSE poll found 81% of Serbs unwilling to recognize Kosovo’s independence in exchange for EU membership. Recognition of genocide at Srebrenica also poses an untenable sacrifice to Serbia’s political elites, and an opportunity for this paper to examine the post-atrocity political dynamics of Serbia through polling data, public communications by political elites, newspaper coverage and statements by both pro and anti-EU domestic actors. I hope to contribute to the growing body of post-atrocity research, using this workshop to better direct and inform this paper’s analysis of decision-making processes in post-atrocity political environments, particularly given the gap between domestic and international image projection and messaging, and public consumption or rejection based on attachments to the dominant narrative and identity crafted during and after the war- and ever-looming potential of another.