Serbia's military neutrality: Origins, effects and challenges

Abstract

Serbia is the only state in the Westen Balkns that is not seeking NATO membeship. In Decembr 2007, Serbia dclared military neutrality and in spite of its EU membrship aspirations, developd very close relatons with Moscow. The objective of this paper is treefold First, I argue that in order to understand why Serbia decared military neutrality, one has to look both at the discursive terrain and domestic power struggles The key narrative that was strategically usd by mnemonic entrereneurs, most importanty by the former Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica, to legitimize militay neutrality was the trauma of NATO intervention in 1999 and the ensuing secession of Kosovo. In the second part of the paper, I discuss the operational consequences of the military neuality policy for Serbia's relations with NATO and Russia, as well as for mitary reform and EU accession Finaly, I spell out the challenges ahad in Serbia's neutrality plicy and argue that its decision makers will increasingly be caught between pragmatic foreign plicy requirements on the oe hand and deeply enrenhed traumatic memories on the other.