Извештаји делегације Србије са Друге конференције мира у Хагу 1907. године
Reports from the Serbian Delegates to the Second Hague Peace Conference, 1907

Summary/Abstract: This paper presents four documents which provide us the opportunity to examine the offical stand of Serbian government concerning a wide range of subjects broached at the Second Hague Peace Conference (1907). Serbian delegates took part in the proceedings of the conference, and sent regular reports to the government in Belgrade. Among these reports are four documents kept in the Archive of Serbia, in the fund of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The first one provides an important insight into the nature of the standpoint of Serbian delegates on issuses of mediation, international commissions of inquiry, international arbitration and the establishment of the Permanent Court of Arbitration. The next two documents are the Serbian proposals about the pacific settlement of international disputes, and the last one is the final report from the conference. The nature of conventions and declarations adopted at The Hague were in harmony with the Serbian national interests and the official position taken during the proceedings of the conference. The participation of Serbia is important as an illustration of methods through which a small state tried to accommodate itself within a discourse of universal values of peace, justice and humanity, without impairing its vital interests and without damaging its relations with the great powers in the process. The Serbian policy was in accordance with prevailing contemporary notion of primacy of national interests over the interests of international community. After a decade and a half during which she was perceived in the European public opinion as the politically and financially unstable Balkan country, and often designated as the realm of king slayers and plotters (after 1903), Serbia managed to change a bit this widespread image through prominent participation at the Second Peace Conference.

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