Suchergebnisse

The paper aims to disclose the (de)securitization of Covid-19 during the two Macedonian electoral processes (i.e. the 2020 parliamentary and 2021 local elections) in accordance with the ruling elites' liking. The basic premise is that the pandemic has catalyzed the underlying processes of political alienation and authoritarian tendencies that had been present even before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. The safety rules and regulations during the pandemic have been repeatedly re-modeled and manipulated in accordance with both economic and political gain's ʻlogic' rather than led by medical reasons and health protection requirements. The Macedonian politics of power-sharing is a case in focus, and it offers convincing arguments that political, ethnic, and religious elites have used the pandemic for their own interest and holding to power at any cost.

Priča o makedonskom uspehu ulaskom u NATO je priča o samoispunjavajućem proročanstvu: pokušavajući da izbegnu loše prognoze o opstanku države, makedonske vlasti su upravo pomogle da se stvore uslovi za ugrožavanje nacionalne bezbednosti, pa i blagostanja građana. Godinu dana u Alijansi pokazuje da je sindrom slabe države i dalje prisutan, a da je geopolitička pozicija na "liniji fronta" slaba bezbednosna garancija za celokupnost države i nacionalnih interesa. Ovaj rad predstavlja analizu geopolitičke i geostrateške pozicije najmlađe članice NATO u regionalnom kontekstu, uz elaboraciju političkog narativa koji je pratio put ka Alijansi. Pored reality-check-a u odnosu na to što je Makedonija dobila, a šta izgubila ulaskom u NATO, u analizi će se indirektno referirati na srpsku politiku vojne neutralnosti, i uopšte na srpsku spoljnu politiku. Polazna premisa je da zemlje tzv. Zapadnog Balkana i dalje predstavljaju sistem povezanih sudova, pa se svaka promena u jednom delu regiona odražava i na sve ostale. S druge strane, slabe države ostaju sitan novčić u transakcijama velikih sila (ili bolje rečeno, korporativnog kapitala koji upravlja njima), tako da članstvo u NATO i vojna neutralnost ne predstavljaju pravi odgovor za zavisnost od zapadnih centara moći i za izgubljenog (ili uopšte nestečenog) suvereniteta. U eri dezintegracije evroatlantizma i rastućeg autoritarijanizma, jedino rešenje, ali i najnedostižnije, je uspostavljanje bliže regionalne saradnje, na političkom, kulturnom i bezbednosnom planu, što bi vodilo stvaranju balkanske bezbednosne zajednice.

The objective of this paper is to outline and analyse the manner in which governments on the EU's south-eastern periphery (i.e. the Western Balkans) responded to the COVID-19 pandemic and its possible after-effects. The author seeks to shed light on three particular aspects of the crisis: the (de)securitization process of COVID-19, the geopolitics of the EU enlargement process in the post-corona world, and the Balkan way of dealing with the pandemic. Following a prologue that tries to decipher what is behind the façade of this dramatic episode, the article proceeds to characterize both the securitization of COVID-19 and the "gaslighting turnaround". It then looks at the Balkan version of the so-called "COVID-1984", i.e. the autocratic tendencies that have blossomed amid (and thanks to) strong security concerns.