“SRPSKI SVET”: REVIZIONISTIČKA STRATEGIJA ZA PREOBLIKOVANJE GEOPOLITIČKE ARHITEKTURE ZAPADNOG BALKANA
“SERB WORLD”: A REVISIONIST STRATEGY FOR REFORMING THE GEOPOLITICAL ARCHITECTURE OF THE WESTERN BALKANS

Author(s): Sead Turčalo
Subject(s): Governance, Political history, Social history, Geopolitics, Wars in Jugoslavia
Published by: Institut za istraživanje zločina protiv čovječnosti i međunarodnog prava Univerziteta u Sarajevu
Keywords: Serbian World; revisionism; realist constructivism; Russkiy Mir; Western Balkans;
Summary/Abstract: The paper analyzes the concept of the “Serbian World” as a contemporary revisionist strategy of official Belgrade aimed at reshaping the geopolitical and normative architecture of the Western Balkans. Drawing on a realistconstructivist paradigm, the “Serbian World” is interpreted as a project that simultaneously encompasses material dimensions (power, territory, institutions, security arrangements) and ideational dimensions (identity, historical memory, and norms). The paper also develops a typology of revisionism through three ideal types and demonstrates how the “Serbian World” evolves from a predominantly normative form toward a combined, third type of revisionism, in which both the existing order and state borders are contested. Methodologically, the study is based on qualitative analysis of strategic documents of the Republic of Serbia, legal acts, and statements by political and ecclesiastical elites, as well as relevant secondary literature, complemented by a comparative analysis with the Russian concept of the Russian World (Russkiy mir). The paper concludes that the “Serbian World” represents a rebranded version of the “Greater Serbia” project, adapted to the era of hybrid action, which-through a network of special and parallel ties, cultural-religious structures, and the information-media sphere-produces a condition of “controlled instability” inBosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Kosovo. This, in turn, opens space for synergy with Russian revisionism and for the long-term undermining of Euro-Atlantic integration in the region. The paper further examines possible developmental scenarios, ranging from prolonged “controlled instability” to the potential transformation of the concept through changes in domestic and international conditions, and highlights the implications for EU and NATO policies toward the Western Balkans.

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