Day 22.1

So this day is as busy as I was hoping it would be. Was at the conference this morning, had an interview this afternoon, and now I'm dashing out the door to go to my final interview of the trip.

I will try to post more tonight :)

Cao

Day 21

I am now staying at Milos' apartment which is about 5 minutes drive from where I was on Strahinjica Bana since my landlord had already scheduled someone else to rent the apartment for the next week. He is nice enough to let me use his computer so I can keep blogging :)

This morning I decided to wander around the city. I began near Kalemegdon, went down to the statute commemorating the non-alignment movement, walked by the Sava for awhile near the bridges, cut up to Kneza Milosa and passed numerous embassies including the American embassy and Croatian both of which have no windows-- I can't imagine how depressing it must be inside. From a psychological perspective I would think that this would have a very negative impact on the types of reports generated back to the US from Serbia especially from those who are just briefly visiting. I mean what does it say about a country when your embassy has no windows-- it makes you feel like you're still in war time when really thats not the case anymore at all. I really hope that the Obama administration decides to change that. It is a sign of distrust.

That is really jarring and upsetting.

Along Kneza Milosa were several military buildlings which were bombed in 1999. The buildings are still there. I was able to take pictures of them on the side of the street on which they are located but when I crossed the street to take pictures a policeman stopped me and told me it was not allowed. I wish I spoke Serbian fluently because I would have liked to hear his reasoning. It was quite bizzarre honestly. The buildings are there in broad daylight and a few minutes earlier a tour bus had passed and I could see the flashbulbs. Moreover, I wish that I could have told him that I was taking pictures to show to my friends and family in the USA. That I was trying to show the harm that the bombing had done and raise awareness. I guess it's actually a good thing I wasn't able to communicate all this to him :-p Knowing my temper it could have gone badly. At least I got two pictures before he stopped me-- one is below.

I also took more pictures further down the way at a larger military complex which is similarly just sitting there gutted. I don't understand why the rubble is still there... I have several theories-- one of course is that the government wants to remind the world that Serbia was bombed by NATO... this is a perspective that lends itself to the victimization thing and I really have a hard time buying it. Another is there there is no money-- that a private investor would have to buy the property and pay to build something in its place. Once again I am skeptical that there's no money even to bulldoze the buildings and let the space be an empty lot. I think that the truth lies in the middle. To me they represent that nature of the NATO bombing in present day Serbia-- people have gotten on with their lives but the wound is still there, the memories still vivid and painful. Even though seems impossible, I really think that an international conference or at least a legal team needs to address the NATO bombing of Belgrade. It is an unprecedented event-- a bombing as a humanitarian mission-- and at the very least needs to be subject to analysis. It is an underlying part of Serbia's relationship to the NATO member countries and their relationship to Serbia. It needs to be addressed head-on in some way. Massive bombing campaigns are overcome/ reach catharsis either through occupation (Germany, Japan, Austria) or victory (England, Netherlands). The NATO bombing campaign in Serbia by its unique nature has not been able to avail itself of either of these methods. Consequently, like those bombed out shells, the issue remains ever in the background.

This trip has been wonderful for my research. For starters it makes me feel much more confident to move towards publication of my research having been here and conducted interviews, etc-- I feel a tad more qualified to talk about Serbia. It's also given me an idea of the issues which are truely important. I think that this is something that all political scientists must do-- don't settle on your research question/ layout until after visiting the country. During my trip here I have seen that corruption is a major issue here-- something which I HAVE to include in my research. Moreover, talking with people I realize that Serbia really has progressed a lot since 2000-- duh right? but somehow walking the streets and imagining what the 1990s were like on the same streets really brings that notion home. This is important for me in that I can't say that democratization or even conditionality hasn't worked in Serbia. Rather it is that it hasn't been as efficient or it has stalled or... something around there. While I knew this already I am seeing that within the newsmedia there really is an image of Serbia portrayed as if nothing had changed since Milosevic-- especially in articles such as Roger Cohen's (I link this only to give you an idea of how rediculous the coverage of Serbia in the US is) around the declaration of independence of Kosovo. Consequently, even I, and know that I know a lot more about Serbia than your average American, find my perspective slightly skewed. It's wonderful to have interviewed lots of different people with VERY different perspectives. I think I really have an idea of where basic Serb opinion lies... Hopefully one day soon I will be able to come back here with a big enough grant to finance my own survey.

Okay my fingers are getting tired :-p Tomorrow is going to be crazy (or at least I hope it will be-- otherwise it'll mean my two most awesome interview opportunities crashed) so I don't know if I'll have a chance to post anything. My flight takes off at 12:30 on Tuesday and, following a 4 hour layover in Paris, I land at JFK in NYC at 6pmEST.

cao for now!

Day 20... wow

 On Friday I went with Milos to the Nikola Tesla Museaum. On the way back, quite near to his apartment, are the locations to these two pictures of "collateral damage". 

The story: On April 23, 1999, NATO bombed the RTS (Radio and Television Serbia) building. Allegedly a warning had been given to those inside but the management insisted everyone report for work. Milos walked by the building 15 minutes before the bombing and saw them all hard at work through the windows. Sixteen people died and survivors were trapped in the rubble for days. (see picture below curtsey of BBC). To add insult to injury (putting it lightly) there has been considerable debate as to whether the RTS building was after all a legitimate target. The families of the victims took their case to the European Court of Human Rights but the case

 was never actually heard because the ECHR declared it to be inadmissible. 

Carl Clausewitz famously stated, "War is a continuation of politics by other means"... We see this in the bombed out shell of the RTS building still standing after 10 years-- a testimony to the fact that the 1999 bombing is remains and untreated open wound. 

Yesterday Ayatollah Khamenei declared war on the protesters of last week's election. Even as I write this I believe there are 100s of Iranians who woke up today and are perhaps now gathering at the rally with their friends who will lie dead in the street before the day is through... 

politics by other means... 

This is the memorial to those killed in the NATO bombing of RTS. The large letters read "Why?"....

and I do not know the answer. 

 

Day 16

On Sunday night Milos and his friend Nikola took me to an outdoor cafe nearby. We had a great time talking of everything from Serbian history to politics and I was even treated to a short discussion on game theory by Nikola who is a physicist (and it was indeed a treat-- I am fascinated by game theory). In the midst of our conversation, however, our conversation turned to the experience of the NATO bombing. They told me that the first week was the worse but after that things took on a quality such that the bombing could have kept going it didn't matter. Nikola told me of a book, The Berlin Diary, (please correct me Milos or Nikola if this is the wrong book), which discusses the bombing of Berlin. He said that the way the author describes people's reaction to the experience, the way you settle into being bombed as a new type of normalacy is identical to his feelings during the NATO bombing. He mentioned that several things he had read about Gaza suggested that there was also a commonality with their experience as well.

I was thinking of this all day yesterday and it reminded me of one of my dearest wishes when I was young-- to visit a city such as Belfast (this was of course in the 1990s during the Troubles) and experience what it was like to live in such a way. Visiting a market several hours before a carbomb goes off. Continuing to venture out into public, knowing that the line between life and death is simply a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I wanted to visit Belfast (and later Jerusalem during the early 2000s) and ask those living there, "What are you thinking? What is important to you? Do you still have fun and if so what does fun look like given this situation? How do you get away mentally from this reality-- drugs/alcohol/fantasy/religion? Are you angry? Can you even feel sadness anymore? etc." Of course I did not plan to ask these questions directly rather I wanted to hear people's stories and see what came out. Such an existence has always struck me as the realest life can get, where, as Nikola mentioned, all that matters is the here and now.

I got my wish a little on Sunday night hearing Milos an Nikola talk frankly about the bombing. So then I asked myself-- why is this important? Why do you care so much about this type of scenario and how people deal with it?

I believe a partial answer comes from my experiences of the past 16 days. During my scheduled interviews I have heard two very different perspectives of the NATO bombing. On the one side I have heard that it is something that will shadow relations internationally forever. On the other I have heard that people are over it to the extent that it is no longer a political issue-- citing the overall lack of protest at the ten year anniversary of the bombings this year.
Then I speak with Milos and Nikola, and earlier I have spoken with Vesna, and I hear that the bombing has impacted their lives, that they are still upset with it-- sardonically joking about the cold phrase "collateral damage" which refered to their lives.
If we look at politics as an elite-driven process meaning that the public such as Milos, Nikola, and Vesna, have a say only by electing officials then no, the NATO bombing is no longer politically relevant. Yet if we broaden politics to include the formation of political culture and civil society organizations then collective trauma and experience are surely part of the political fabric and therefore remain germain to any analysis of Serbian politics following Milosevic. If you have been following my blog I am sure that you know that by now I favor the later view over the former.

Everyone has been asking me why I have come to Serbia, and better yet why am I interested in Serbia to begin with. In this lies the answer-- The protest of Serb people concerning issues such as Kosovo and the NATO bombing has prompted numerous outbursts of frustration from various political and international actors and been dismissed as coming from a radical nationalist place and proof of the so-called "culture of victimization". When utilized for political ends these twin issues can perhaps be analyzed according to such a superficial understanding. Yet the reason they can be utilized in such a way lies in the psyche of the Serbia populace (as democracy, Serbian politics should represent the wishes and goals of the populace, if the populace didn't care then Kosovo and NATO bombing would no longer be an issue to bank upon). It is therefore essential to open up an anlaysis of politics within Serbia to the wider issue of political culture formation which, as I said previously, occurs through collective experience.
To understand collective experience one must travel to the country of interest and have coffee with people, see the attitude within the city, observe where people congregate, and millions of other points of observation most of which are unconscious. At some point I hope to come here (although this time with Alec :)and travel to other points within Serbia and stay for a few days similarly observing and trying to understand.

I am reading "Travels with Herodotus" by Ryszard Kapuscinski right now. He quotes Herodotus's mission statement:

Here are presented the results of the enquiry carried out by Herodotus of Hilicarnassus. The purpose is to prevent the races of human events from being erased by time, and to preserve the fae of the important and remarkable acheivements produced by both Greeks and non-Greeks; among the matters covered is, in particular, the cause of the hostilities between Greeks and non-Greeks.

I am struck that Herodotus went about the final task-- understanding the cause of hostilities-- by visiting these places and talking to people and observing their habits and culture. Moreover that he takes as given that there was a cause-- rather than saying it is something ordained by a higher power or something that was fatefully inevitable. He takes over 700 pages (Oxford translation) to discuss this causality. Detail was important to his task. He did not choose to simply boil it down to desire for power or economic gain, although he notes that these exist of course but he finds it important to note down each event and the circumstances surrounding them. The context is essential for him.

When it comes to Serbia I believe the same argument holds true. Current popular analyses of Serbia fail to take the entire picture into account. They are written against something-- against the Serbian nationalist perspective, against the NATO bombing, against the independence of Kosovo, against the lack of recognition of Kosovo by Serbia, etc. A non-policy analysis needs to occur really looking at the dynamics within Serbia given these novel events of the NATO bombing and the sessession of Kosovo.

That's why I'm here... pointless to some perhaps but I at least want to give it a try.

I guess that's enough blabbering for one afternoon.

Here's a slideshow of my photos:

Click on the photo to enlarge and to turn on and off captions click the dialogue bubble on the left.
Enjoy

Day 15

I've come to my final week in Serbia. I can't believe it's already 2/3rds of the way over. I'm still waiting for a few interviews to come through but I have what I'm hoping will be a great one on Wednesday with Vladan Živulović the president of The Atlantic Council of Serbia. I'll also be going to a conference on EU-Serbian integration on June 22nd which should make for a lot of very interesting contacts to take home with me.

Thus far I've had seven formal interviews. Three of them are professors of political science, one a former chief editor at Politika, another a member of the DSS intelligentsia, another a visiting political scientist, and finally a Serbian official at the USAID Competitiveness Project. Everyone has a different perspective but interestingly enough I've found the following issues to be foremost in these people's minds:

ICJ ruling on Kosovo
Everyone is in agreement that the ICJ will refrain from taking one side or another. One of my interviewees went so far as to say that really the opinion has no significance what so ever. The others however, look at the ruling as significant in that it makes political space for movement on the part of the Serbian government. One of my interviewees said that the ICJ ruling will contain hints of opinion either towards the American et al. side or the Serbian et al. side which will determine the subsequent policies. Another of my interviewees said that the ICJ ruling will allow the Serbian government to begin to step back from the Kosovo issue by telling the voters look we did all we can. All agree that deciding to recognize Kosovo would have catastrophic effects upon Serbian politics. The main question seems to be how to proceed forwards in international politics with this given.

EU Visas
Everyone I've spoken with seems to agree that this has to happen this year. That the EU has strung Serbia on far enough. There was a huge amount of expectation following the last election. Several of my interviewees have stressed the importance of the last election. Following the declaration of independence by Kosovo Tadic (DS) and Kostuncia (DSS) split over how to handle the issue. Kostunica wanted it to be a stumbling block to the EU while Tadic advocated a more moderate approach.

NATO membership
There strong division on this issue. One interviewee said that it may very well prove to be a source of further conditionality by the international community especially if the US and Russia continue in the Cold War-esque standoff begun during Bush administration over the proposed missile shield defense system. My other interviewees have been dismissive of this concern. One said that Serbia will be able to choose whether or not it wants to join and the international community will not do anything about it. Another advocated approaching the issue from another direction. The commonly sited statitics over Serbia and NATO is the fact that around 75% of Serbs are against NATO while nealry the same percentage is for the EU. My interviewee said that given NATO's bombing of the region it is significant that 25% of those surveyed are in favor of joining NATO. Moreover he pointed to other surveys which have found that support for Serbia's current Partnership for Peace(PfP) which is a political alliance with NATO without full military commitments is at 60%. This means, therefore, that Serbs do want to be aligned with NATO at least politically.

Impact of EU conditionality
This is perhaps the most surprising result of my interviews and the point which makes me so greatful I've come here to conduct this research. I am learning the importance of distinguishing between rhetoric and practice and between what the US media reports and the actual behind the scenes actions/relations of the politicians. I have heard, from several of my interviewees (which is signifiant considering how much they disagree) that "threats" made by foreign leaders leading up to an election have not had a detrimental effect upon the ability of the political parties within Serbia to obtain votes. Moreover, some have told me that really the EU doesn't have the power that it would like to think it has. However, I have now heard the phrase several times "using gasoline to stop a fire" in reference to the issues of the ICTY and Kosovo and continued delayed EU promises.
There's more to say but I'm running out of brains :-p I'll go into it more later. --Suzie

Day 14

Here are some pictures from walking around town over the past few days:




















Had coffee and excellent conversation tonight. It's 1:54am Monday... (began this post way earlier) so I'll elaborate more later today after sleep :)

Nightiee night! (laku noc)

Day 13.2

I'd like to take a time out from discussing my life here in Serbia and talk about whats going on in Iran right now.


The Iranian system is more democratic than many realize. There has been legitimate turnover in the past. Prior to Ahmadinejad, for example, a man named Khatami was president and campaigned on a platform of liberalization and reform. Ahmadinejad, by contrast, has a solid basis in laborers and rural folk. Many young Iranians are fed up with Ahmadinejad's rhetoric and the way in which he has forced Iran back into international isolation. Moreover, he has been unable to deliver on his economic promises. Voter turnout was at 80% and campaigning in the last week was tense. My point is that this is indeed a backlash to what is believed to be a stolen election.

Even if Mr. Moussavi (opposition candidate) did not win the election, it seems unlikely that he lost with the 30 percent margin that the election officials have reported. Moreover, as the video states, the regime is not negotiating with the opposition. This is very dangerous especially in a country facing such economic unrest and with social tensions always lurking right beneath the surface, not to mention the memories of the student revolt under Khomeni.

So far it appears that the news media is doing a fair job reporting this crisis. The main thing to realize is that Iran has a strong semblance of democracy at least where elections are concerned and even though their human rights record is appalling. Consequently, in many ways the outcome of this protest right now will have long term effects upon the regime type within Iran. It seems clear that if Ahmadinejad wishes to retain full control with no cooperation with Mr. Moussavi, he will have to impose something akin to martial law. Once such a step is taken it then can become very tantalizing for those in power to retain it as the status quo.

Conversely, if Ahmadinejad extends a hand of friendship to Mr. Moussavi, it will give the opposition leader a say to some extent in the government. Basically if Iran emerges from this leadership council without imposition of martial law, their structure may very well be vindicated as democratic according to minimalist definitions concerning elections.

I apologize for getting a bit poli sci but I think its important to realize that Iran is not the authoritarian regime that Saudi Arabia. The people are able to elect a president and this is very significant and so very often overlooked by the media.

Day 13

Alec landed safely in Lima albeit 6 hours but he's there.

Yesterday I had an interview with Professor Jovan Teokarevic at the faculty of political science which went quite well. It was great to talk to someone who was well aware of the politics of Serbia and the EU. He came right out and said that he believed that some point in the future Serbia will have to make a choice between Kosovo and EU membership. This is a significant statement. Everyone else I have spoken to has danced around the issue. It was marvelous to speak to someone who undersands the domestic-international political dynamic on a practical rather than simply theoretical stance.

He actually brought up some of my major concerns vis-a-vis EU policy/ trajectory-- he mentioned the little known 2006 amendment in the French constitution which stated that after Croatia the French public would have to vote in favor of each member states acession. All member countries must vote unanimously for a state to enter the EU. As Jovan said bringing the French public into the equation would have been catastrophic. Luckily under Sarkozy the amendment was nulled.

Jovan and others are calling for Thesoloniki II. The Thesoloniki conference occured in 2003 between SE European countries and EU officials in which the EU affirmed that the SE European countries' futures do lie within the EU (as opposed to Belarus and Ukraine). Since then, however, the commitment of the EU to the region has been incredibly blurry.

Jovan said that the unspoken message conveyed by the EU to Eastern Europe acessor states in the late 1990s differs strongly from the one attitude currently conveyed to the Balkans. The message to Eastern Europe (Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, etc.) was that you will get in once you are ready. To the Balkans (Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Albania) the message is that you will get in once you are ready and once we (EU states) are ready as well.

Consequently, Jovan said, despite the posturing of the states to the contrary, all Balkan states are rooting for each other to get in.

Anyways it was a very interesting interview.

I came back and spent the rest of the day waiting for Alec's call-- he got a weak signal to send an email and have a 3 minute skype call at 11pm last night and finally got my longer call this morning at 4:30am. I am understandably taking a bit longer to get up this morning :-p

I'm posting some pictures I took on Thursday walking around town. The pink toes picture above is the view form Kalemegdon.

Day 11.1

Today is the day that Alec goes to Peru! Luckily I have no scheduled interviews so I can hang out by the computer monitoring everything via Skype and AA airline tracking!

Okay so I guess I'm a bit more concerned than I thought I would be.

On a side note, however, I just received this email from the Atlantic Council in Serbia:

Dear Susanna,

Thank you for your mail. I would like to inform you that Mr. Vladan Zivulovic, President of the Atlantic Council of Serbia will be able to meet you regarding the interview.

If you agree,on Tuesday , June 16, we will be organize a meeting at our premises in 83, Bulevar oslobodjenja street. I will contact you on Monday to confirm all details.

Best regards,

Jelena Jelicic,

Project manager of the Atlantic Council of Serbia,

11 000 Belgrade, Bulevar oslobodjenja street 83,

Tel/fax: +381 11 39 75 643

Mob. : +381 64 66 86 359

e-mail: jjelicic@atlanticcouncil.rs

*happydance*!!!


Okay so this gives me a new direction for today! I can monitor Alec's travels while I research everything possible concerning the ACS and begin to prepare a kick ass interview!!! Finally I'll be able to use my new digital recorder

I have a confession which I can now make. I've been a bit depressed because I had yet to get an interview with someone like the ACS. Yesterday I drowned my sorrows in some shopping. I picked my gifts for Andy and Abby (my future bro and sis in law --omg guys that sounds bizzarre! :-p) but.... then I headed to Zara-- cute racerback tank top and sweater--and then to Lilly (a drugstore here in Belgrade) and emerged with 4 bottles of my favorite nailpolish which sadly can only be found in Europe-- Bourjois.


Silly I know but yet strangely comforting. My toes are now a sparkling fuchsia and finger nails a deep purple. And yes I know I'll have to redo them before my meeting on Tuesday but for the moment they are quite fun!

In case anyone seek is interesting in similarly monitoring Alec's every move here's his info:

Flight number	AA577
From	NEW YORK - JOHN F KENNEDY Terminal 8
To	MIAMI INTL
Depart	11 Jun 2009 11:10
Arrive	11 Jun 2009 14:28

Flight number	AA917
From	MIAMI INTL
To	LIMA - J CHAVEZ INTL
Depart	11 Jun 2009 17:15
Arrive	11 Jun 2009 21:55

Alright well nothing more for the moment!

Day 10

So I've been in Serbia 10 days and in the spirit of Letterman I think I'll attempt to put together a top ten list!

Top ten things I've done in Serbia
10. Shopped at a grocery store
9. Dodged a tram
8. Called for a cab
7. Deciphered countless signs in Cyrillic
6. Ordered coffee in Serbian
5. Carried on a broken conversation with a cabbie about my purpose in Serbia
4. Was helped by a totally random stranger today to find the correct building for my 11am interview
3. Visited the Serbian faculty of political science
2. Given countless panicked looks to store clerks when my Serbian runs out
1. Fallen in love with this awesome city!!!

Okay so not ready for Letterman but a great way to break writer's block!

I haven't been writing the past few days because honestly after all of the interviews I've been getting quite overwhelmed.

I've encountered a general feeling of helplessness and hopelessness during my interviews. It's interesting because everyone explains it in a different way.

• A says its to do with freedom of the media
• G says its to do with a stalemate between domestic political elite and the international community
• L says its to do with the lack of conditionality as an incentive working
• D says that eventually the international community will recognize Serbia but until then Serbia just needs to wait.
• Z says that actually the entirety of the issue has to do with economic not political reforms

I'm working on getting some interviews with actual international actors and there's a conference I'm going to on June 22nd on Serbia and the European Union which should be great.

That's it for now.
cao,
Suzi

Day 9.1

Running out the door to today's interview with Nebojsa Vladisavljevic. Very sorry for being so bad at blogging lately. I'm still alive and loving Belgrade. The interviews are just leaving me so exhausted that I can barely type them up much less blog about them :-p (still working on typing up Dusan's interview!)

Anyways I plan on doing some exploration tomorrow after my interview at 11 with Ana Trbovich so that should be great.

Gotta dash!

Cao!
suzi

Day 8.1

Dashing out the door-- trusting that Pink Taxi will actually come as promised within 3-5 min of being called.
Just received an email from Ana Trbovich setting up an interview for 11 on Wednesday! (so much for a day off :-p)

Cao!

Suzi

Day 7.2

Interview with Bogdana went quite well.

Still processing...

On the frivolous side today I got The Prisoner of Azkaban, Where's Waldo in Hollywood, and a Tintin collection in Serbian!!! annnd, even better, I successfully paid for them using only Serbian! (Vesna you should be very proud :-p)

I also made a waiter laugh by ordering in Serbian, I guess my accent was bad but he said he understood me. Speaking of which, yesterday I forgot to mention, I went to buy musli, and yogurt at a corner store and freaked the clerk out because he honest to goodness thought I spoke Serbian-- I should explain-- I've gotten good at doing the smiling and nodding thing when I kind of understand what's going on through body language and minimal language skills. Apparenty I did such a good job that he totally bought it-- it took a few seconds to convince him that I actually had no idea what he had been saying. Luckily he thought it was funny! Once again I'm the wierd American girl traipsing around a foreign country trying not to act like an idiot and often failing.

Experiences like these are helping to balance the intensity of my interviews.
Sigh... okay so tomorrow I have a meeting with Dusan Pavlovic at the Faculty of Political Science at 12:30. Planning on taking my first Serbian taxi! (thanks once again Vesna for the number!) I tried to figure out the buses but I couldn't find a bus map anywhere online. I probably should have just gone to a bus stop or some place for a hard copy but silly me I'm used to everything being online accessible. Oh well. According to my maps it's only a few km away so shouldn't be a big deal. I'm going to call at 11 and hopefully it'll all work out!!!

Missing everyone and for all my non-Serb readers-- you must put Belgrade at the top of your international travel to-do list. :-D

Day 7.1

Brief thought...
American banks punish us for traveling. This is actually something that deserves political attention, in my opinion, because travel is a broadening experience and quite important especially in our globalizing world. The decisions Americans in the mid-west make concerning their Senators directly impacts American foreign policy which, as we have seen esp in Serbia, can directly impact the lives of individuals 5,000 miles away. The only way this immensity of this responsibility can even slightly penetrate our consciousness is by traveling and seeing the US from the outside. Ljiljana was actually talking about this to me last night. She spent 6 frustrating months in Cleveland, OH as a young journalist but when she returned to Yugoslavia, happy to be home, she found to her surprise that she was now completely annoyed by Yugoslav journalistic practices. Her point was that those 6 months of outside experience had changed her without her knowledge.

The cost of travel is already quite high and there is no reason that banks need to charge overall flat fees for international transactions. Of course there is a greater cost involved in an international transaction because of the currency exchange. But I seriously doubt that the conversion of $20 to RSD costs the bank $5... Banks should I suppose pass the cost to the consumer but don't make money via international transaction fees!! I'm sure with the number of transactions taking place daily the real cost of currency conversion is fairly minimal.

As we reform our economic system, I believe that this is a place that at least deserves a second glance. Banking practices are frequently outdated, inherited from an older generation and therefore in need of updating.

(in the interest of full disclosure, the writer of this blog just got slammed with $25 of international transaction fees from Bank of America... growl...)

Day 6.2

DEAD tired...
Interviews with Florian and Ljiljana went really well. Two very different people saying very different things yet occasionally and surprisingly agreeing on some points.
and guess what?? (drumroll please) I didn't get lost once today!!!! *HAPPY DANCE*

Sorry but too tired to philosophize tonight-- just finished writing up Ljiljana's interview notes and just want to bury myself in Will and Grace DVDs right now.

Landlord is coming over at 10am with cleaning lady meaning I can't sleep in-- sad :(

Tomorrow at 4pm I have an interview with Bogdana...

cao

Day 6.1

Wow... Day 6. Seems totally impossible! Here are a few more pictures from my touring yesterday. I'm off this morning to meet with Florian and then with Ljiljiana this afternoon

.

Day 5.3

So many things to write and so little brain cells left with which to write them.
Got massively lost looking for Ruski Car this afternoon-- thank goodness I decided to do a test run before meeting Florian there tomorrow morning! Took 1 1/2 hours as opposed to 20 min thanks to the fact that while in the map street names are in Latin, 99.9% of the street signs (when you can find them) are in Cyrillic!!! Sigh... just call me Twoflower. (This is some random art on a random wall on a random street... :-p)

Around 6pm Milos picked me up and took me adventuring! He helped me buy a Serbian-English/English-Serbian dictionary (yay) and then we walked around the rest of kalemegdan park... I forgot my camera of course so I'll have to stroll back there and get some pics.

From there he took me to a really old part of Belgrade dating back at least to the 1800s. The streets were laid by the Ottomans and we walked past the ruins of the National Library which was completely destroyed by the bombing during WW II. Directly across and situated right on the Sava apparently were the lodgings of many of Serbia's famous poets and painters. (Really need pics of all of this!!! bad Suzie!) Nearby was the house of Mihailo Petrovic the world renowned Serb inventor and mathematician.

We then went back to Kneza Mihaila to get some coffee. We were outside under their awning when an immense thunder storm rolled in. It must have continued for 20 minutes at least. We had to raise our voices to hear each other over the noise.

On the way back to the car Milos pointed out some bullet holes in a building-- "from 1999?" I asked. "Earlier than that" he replied "World War II or I"
Moments like that remind me how different the histories of our two countries are-- the closest the US has ever come to being attacked like that was Pearl Harbor and 9/11. But those were isolated places... yes... horrible horrible horrible events but still not the same as being bombed day after day after day during a war. Events like that shape a generation. But what about when it happens three times...As Milos said, Belgrade was the first and last European capital bombed in the 20th century... What does that do to a people?

He then drove me by the Serbian military buildings that are still bombed out shells. I have yet to come up with words to describe what it felt like to see them. I agree with the humanitarian arguments made in favor of international intervention in Kosovo but I strongly STRONGLY condemn the means used. We drove past a military compound in Dedinje which apparently had been untouched by the bombs. Apparently a market place and a radio station full of civilians were of greater strategic importance than a military base.

In Dedilje we drove into the elite neighborhood formerly home to Milosevic and Arkan of "Arkan's Tigers"-- I saw his house... sent chills up my spine.

The size of those houses rival those found in Malibu and Beverly Hills. As Milos tried to locate Milosevic's former house we happened upon a house apparently containing someone important because there was a guard patrolling the sidewalk with a fairly large gun.

I talked to Alec tonight... I told him that so far everything I've been experiencing is exactly what I was expecting... I feel vindicated yet also so incredibly sad. I expected to encounter a frustrated, hurt, angry, and exhausted country and so I have. But I am filled with an incredible sense of injustice. People should not have to go through this. Not in this day and age. It's pure political (international and domestic) foolishness that has kept Serbia so isolated over the past 10 years and the Serbian people know it. With the current economic crisis making the already weak Serbian economy weaker I'm concerned that it wouldn't take much for things to go downhill fast.

("Kosovo is Serbia" ;[1389 was the Battle of Kosovo]; "EU= Organized Traitors"; "Eurolex- Occupator")

I have been taking pictures of graffiti around the city because I find it an interesting social commentary. It must, of course, be understood that as in any locale graffitti represents a certain social element and must not be construed as representative in any way of the whole or even the majority of society. That being said I find this picture interesting.

It's late and I have to get up early tomorrow.
laku noc...

Day 5.2

Change of plans!
Something came up for Florian so I'm meeting him tomorrow at 10am at Ruski Car, Ljiljana in the afternoon and hopefully Bogdana Koljevic on Sunday.

Whew-- rescheduling is so much fun :-p But on the plus side now I get a bit more sleep :)

Day 5.1

Dobro Jutro!
Thought I would prove to everyone that yes I am capable of getting up early!
:) Today's going to be very full, expect a long blog tonight!

cao!
Suzi

Day 4.2

Tired. Meeting Florian at 10AM tomorrow at the Ruski Car cafe. The some touring time with Milos and early to bed to prepare for breakfast with Ljiljana and possibly another interview in the evening.
And so it begins....

Laku noc!
Suzi

Day 4.1

Today is a research and preparation day. At long last I feel up to really tackling my overall purpose for being here. I have four interviews lined up:

1. Florian Bieber (pol sci prof) on Friday
2. Ljiljana Smajlovic (journalist) on Saturday
3. Nebojsa Vladisavljevic (poli sci prof) on Tuesday
   
4. Dusan Pavlovic (poli sci prof) exact date pending
   

Now the issue becomes figuring out how to put together concise questions out of the nebula cluster that is my brain. My main goal (as the research proposal I've posted here states) is to understand the way in which the international community impacts Serbian politics and in turn democratization. I'm happy that my first meeting is with Florian. Much of my work has been strongly influenced by his perspective on Serbian elites so that should be a great jumping off place.

My thought, which finds resonance with the article I linked, is that the dominance of nationalism within the political space of Serbia is a product of the circumstances in which Serbian finds itself politically, socially, and economically as well as the circumstances of nationalist political elites. The European Union makes it clear that it desires more than anything to have nothing to do with Serbian nationalist elites. They would like to shut them out as much as possible from the process. This means that if these elites wish to remain in power (which of course they do) they will have to change the political setting within which they operate-- i.e. they must derail Serbia's path to the European Union and get the public to support them. The EU and the rest of the international community has played right into their hands with the ways that they have dealt with ICTY conditionality and Kosovo independence. Consquently, in my opinion, EU pushes towards demoncratization and away from nationalism has had the opposite effect of strengthening nationalism (obviously I'm speaking of the harmful radical sort) and slowing democratization.

Types of questions I intend to ask:

1. What, in your opinion, must Serbia do to gain entry into the European Union?
2. How important is the recognition of Kosovo to the democratization of Serbia? (not important-- "why not?" if important then "why?")
3. How, in your opinion, do Serbian politicians make their decisions? i.e. What influences them? (private gain, desire to represent constituents, pressure by international community), etc.
   
4. How important, in your opinion, is the capture of Mladic to the democratization of Serbia?
5. Why, in your opinion, does Serbia wish to join the European Union

etc.....

B92 news blip: Talks on possible cooperation have begun between the leaders of the Serb Progressive Party (SNS) and the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS)

Not unexpected of course but nonetheless significant. The SNS is led by Tomislav Nikolic formerly front man for the Serbian Radical Party. The DSS is of course led by Vojislav Kostunica. Their cooperation cements the schism between the DS and DSS which occured last year following the independence of Kosovo.

Cao.

Day 3.2

So I finally got to wandering around the city today. I visited Kalemegdan Fortress which is about 10 minutes away from my apartment. It's absolutely breathtaking. Just like a fairytale castle!

According to my Bradt guide book, Kalemegdan Park was created in 1867 by Prince Mihailo Obrenović on the occasion of Belgrade fortress being handed back to the Serbs.








The first military defenses were built on the plateau by the Celts. The Romans then expanded upon them as did the Serbs later under Stefan Lazarevic during the 14th and 15th centuries.




During Turkish occupation the fortress fell into disuse. It was rebuilt by the Austrians during 18th century.




















Sadly I did not get to see the entirety of the park-- its huge. The storm clouds started to roll in (you can see them in this last picture ) and I had to dash back to the apartment.

This is either the Danube or the Sava-- the fortress is right at their intersection so I was getting confused!

Anyways more to follow :)

laku noc!

Day 3.1

Scan of recent news in Serbia from B92 and thoughts generated by said news:

Since the beginning of the economic crisis, I have been curious as to what this would do for Serbian democratization. Looking through the news I am not suprised to see it mentioned as a destabilizing factor as well as being utilized for political gain.

VS (Serbian Army) Chief-of-Staff Miloje Miletić said that although things have improved within the region and Serbia in particular, “National, religious, political extremism, besides the existing economic hardships are hampering democratization and transition for states in the Balkans”.

Unfortunately the crisis coincides perfectly with the new government following the declaration of independence by Kosovo and collapse of the DS-DSS coalition...

Vojislav Koštunica is campaigning for local elections in Zemun and Voždovac to be held on June 7th as part of the DSS-New Serbia National Coalition. He is linking the poor economic performance of the past year with the new government. Stating:

We can safely say that the last year since the formation of the government has been a year eaten away by the locusts, eaten away by them. They've been laying waste to Serbia for a year—economically, morally and spiritually. Nothing was sacred to this government, everything that was done for Serbia’s well-being in the previous years has gone down the drain in the space of a year

The DS-DSS colatition between Boris Tadic (DS) and Kostunica (DSS) which had held at least in form since the overthrow of Milosevic finally collapsed in the wake of Kosovo's declaration of independence in February 2008. In the May 2008 elections, Tadic's coalition "For a European Serbia" successfuly formed a governing coalition with the Socialist Party (formerly led by Milosevic) leading to the ousting of Kostuncia as Prime Minister.

Following the declaration of indepedence on the part of the Kosovo, Kostunica became outright anti-EU. Previously he was the poster-boy for Euro-skepticism and made no secret that he rejected what he percieved as meddling in Serbian internal affairs by the international community but it seems clear that for him Kosovo was the proverbial line in the sand.

April 2008, Kostunica said that anyone who signs the SAA agreement on behalf of Serbia (the Stabilization and Association Agreement with the EU which is a step allowing for greater economic aid, less travel restrictions, etc and moving towards EU membership) was an accomplice to the tearing apart of Serbia.


I was interested to find the following statement on b92:

"The president [Boris Tadic] said that he was sure that the enlargement process, covering the Western Balkan states, was likely to pick up pace once again once the economic crisis began to abate and following the end of this year’s election cycle in certain EU member-states"

Germany will have a parliamentary election on September 27, 2009.

Leading up to elections, politicians want to refrain from doing anything that would give fodder for their opposition. Consequently, EU issues are impacted by the election cycles in each member country. This is interesting to ponder. We have been looking at Obama's 100 days because we all know that the closer we get to the next election cycle the less he will be able to push through. Well imagine this happening in the EU where there are 27 election cycles to keep track of and within each state a much larger spectrum of political parties ranging from far right to far left.

As Tadic rightly notes, the fate of Serbia's progress towards the European Union (which contains in the form of the SAA much needed economic aid) is linked to the internal politics of all of these member countries-- but especially the most powerful such as the UK, France, and Germany-- although as the SAA process demonstrates even small countries can have immense sway. The Netherlands is the only country currenlty blocking the implementation of the SAA!

Regarding the economic crisis, Serbia is quite dependent upon Europe for trade. Really there is not too much else that can be said. Their crisis is hers as well. I am hoping to get a better idea of what the crisis is meaning for the average Serb while I am here. I am sure that like the US it depends where you live and in which sector you are employed.

Well on to conquer the day! I am hoping to take a walk today and I will take lots of pictures!

Cao!

-- PS just received two emails! one from a prof in Belgrade and the other (drumroll please) from my total idol Florian Bieber!!!! He's going to be in Belgrade this weekend OMG!!! Okay so let me explain-- I read a paper of his my senior year at GWU and it TOTALLY influenced my studies. He totally questions the stance of the international community with regards to how they are affecting nationalism within Serbia. I met him this past month at a conference at Columbia University and on a whim decided to send him an email this morning asking if he had any contacts here or any suggestions-- and. he's. coming. this. weekend!!! :-D

i'm such a nerd... but you all still love me yes???? :)

Day 2.2 (barely)

Okay I'm up waaaay too late (sorry Alec and mom, I know you tried!). Just sent out my first batch of emails for interviews. Keeping my fingers crossed that this works out! I feel like a total "bleh" today. My main achievement was going to the ATM and the grocery store-- seriously. The rest of the day has been occupied by Will and Grace dvds trying to get over jetlag and the utter stress of the past few weeks. bleh... I promise I'll be more productive tomorrow!

Laku noc! (good night)

Day 2.1

Just changed my time zone on my macbook and was amused to notice that I had to select "Serbia and Montenegro" still. I was talking to Milos (my fantastic initial lifeline here) yesterday about what could be done to change his country. He said that positive progress, i.e. departure from corruption, uber nationalism, etc would only be possible in perhaps 20 years because at the moment everything is still too fresh. The country has been changing constantly over the past century and there are no political traditions.

I found this to be a very interesting statement. People with whom I've spoken within the United States say that Serbia just needs to get over itself and act more like the Czech Republic or Poland and stop trying to be the big player within the Balkans. The reality of the situation, however, is much more complicated. As a comparativist I wholeheartedly believe in the benefit of utilizing a comparative perspective to approach these puzzles but I am at a loss to find a country at least within Europe which has undergone such a degree of constant change without being occupied by a foreign power (save for WWII) or colonialized.

I have heard much about the "culure of victimization" in Serbia and how harmful such a perspective is and how, once again, Serbs need to get over themselves. To be sure, such a mentality is not helpful but, and this is important, it is not illogical. Serbs have found themselves for the past century in the wrong place at the wrong time geopolitically. Many other countries boast similar situations of course but unfortunately, the current path forward for Serbia presented by the international community is one which demands first a degree of reconcilliation with past Serbian deeds and this is where the impasse has occured. It is illogical to believe that a Serb looking back at his/her own history cannot simply say "I am sorry for Milosevic and Kosovo, lets move forward" because such a statement grossly oversimplifies the causality of the situation. Rather it may be "The wars in the 1990s were horrible and I would like to do everything possible to keep them from happening again, lets move forward". I believe many Serbs would agree with this statement and if this could be enough for the time being then it would be okay but it is not enough. Serbs must have the "right" position towards the ICTY and Kosovo and this is where things become complicated. There is no love for NATO's bombing of Serbia here. Moreover, after overthrowing Milosevic, the lack of opening up towards Serbia on the part of the international community was a missed opportunity to normalize relations.

Milos estimated that 90% of Serbs (I'm assuming he meant currently residing in Serbia not diaspora) have not traveled outside of Serbia. This is of course a rough estimate based on his perception which I value even if the number is slightly higher because it is how he sees his countrymen and women. I also know that this is not an unlikely statistic based on my own research. He went on to say that for those who have not traveled, all that they know of the "West" is the bombed out buildlings, the visa restrictions, and sanctions.

Sanctions, visa restrictions, and even bombs have their place but as much time an effort are dedicated to the formulations of such policies also must be devoted to the normalization of relations following such policies.

Okay... so my brain is still working :) this is a good thing. Now back to figuring out life in Beograd.
To do today:
1. Buy mobile credit
2. find grocery store and buy food(!) and COFFEE(!) [my landlord had some coffee here which I made hence the ability to philosophize already otherwise the previous post would not have occured :-p]
3. ATM
4. pay landlord
5. begin to beg for interviews via email
6. MORE SLEEP!

cao (this btw is the Serbian form of "ciao" pronounced "chow" :-p)

Day 1

So I'm in Serbia.
Too utterly exhausted to consider the full ramifications of this statement.

Cao

Research Proposal

I am a graduate student in the Political Science Department at New York University. I am focusing my thesis on the impact of the international community on the process of Serbian democratization.

Democracy promotion, i.e. democratization, is largely linked to the policy of conditionality whereby economic aid is conditioned upon the enactment of various political reforms within the target state. This Instrumentalist approach assumes that actors within the target state wish choose compliance and reward over non-compliance and punishment. International conditionality upon Serbia includes full cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and a conciliatory attitude towards Kosovo. Serbian political actors consistently choose non-compliance and therefore punishment over meeting these conditions to the satisfaction of the international community.

Within the public realm, explanations for Serbia’s actions remain consistent with generally held stereotypes of the country as corrupt, nationalistic, and backwards. Yet, a comparison of the Balkan region through Western assessments, such as Freedom House and the World Bank, demonstrates that politically, economically, and socially, Serbia is an average Balkan country. I propose that it is not a unique stubbornness on the part of Serbs that results in Serbia’s current geopolitical position. Rather, the current geopolitical position of Serbia is a result of external and internal dynamics, linkages on various levels of society.

Linkage theory argues that there are constantly inputs and outputs (both direct and indirect) going back and forth between the “environment” (either the international system or other polities) and the polity in question. Extending this to the case of conditionality, linkage theorists would argue that a polity’s decision to comply with conditionality is effected by numerous inputs (the EU, individual EU countries, private individuals/groups at national and international levels) both intentionally and unintentionally. Linkage theorists would also examine the effect that the domestic situation is having upon the external environment (i.e. other polities or the international system). According to linkage theory, therefore, the successful usage of conditionality as a democratization mechanism is far more complex than the reward and punishment model. It may very well be the case that the pressures exerted by various linkages cause the cost of compliance to domestic political actors to outbalance the benefits of reward.

Scholarly analysis of conditionality as a tool of democratization tends to focus on political actors within the target state. Such works assume political actors are either pro-EU or anti-EU. They further assume that those who are pro-EU are in favor of democracy and those who exhibit anti-EU tendencies are against democracy. The case of Serbia reveals the problematic nature of this assumption. Within Serbia, political actors within the two main democratic parties, the moderate nationalist Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) and the pro-EU Democratic Party (DS), have, at different times, favored non-compliance with regard to ICTY cooperation and attitudes towards Kosovo. Yet, as Freedom House and other indicators demonstrate, under DS and DSS leadership, Serbian democracy is on par with all of the other Balkan democracies. Clearly, research on conditionality must be expanded to analyze other factors influencing non-compliance other than simply an anti-democratic and anti-EU attitude. This paper utilizes linkage theory to explain these other factors. In the broader scope of political science theory, this paper calls attention to the need to devote greater attention to the dynamic between international and domestic politics as a causal mechanism for the decisions of political actors.

Within Serbia, the conditioning of much needed economic aid upon the divisive issues of ICTY compliance and Kosovo status allows political actors to premise their political actions upon nationalist rhetoric rather than addressing economic and social needs. When the government is unable to provide for economic and social needs, widespread public demand expands the scope and power of informal economy. Within Serbia, the informal economy contains many former paramilitaries. Therefore, the weakening of the Serbian government by making the ICTY and Kosovo foremost issues and distracting attention from social and economic needs, has allowed Milosevic-era radical nationalist elites to retain their positions of power within Serbian society.

Similarly, the centrality of ICTY compliance and Kosovo status within Serbian politics has generated large amounts of single-issue protest votes in favor of the Serbian Radical Party (SRS). Votes for the SRS, therefore, cannot be considered support for its general radical platform but rather votes against the ICTY and Kosovo issues. This suggests that were the ICTY and Kosovo issues to occupy a less central position, the SRS would loose much of its prestige. The international community, especially the EU, consistently warns that any government containing the SRS will stall accession talks. Consequently, conditionality excludes large swaths of society from democratic power such as moderate nationalists who, despite favoring democratic reforms, vote for the SRS to protest the ICTY and Kosovo issues. It also, therefore, precludes the formation of a genuine opposition party within Serbian politics, an essential element of successful democratization.

Any attempts to study Serbia’s non-compliance with European Conditionality, therefore, must examine the dynamics between international politics and domestic Serbian politics. It is for this reason that I will travel to Serbia this summer to interview Serbian politicians, Serbian Non-Governmental Organizations, International Non-Governmental Organizations, the European Union, and various other domestic and international actors.