Project: Security issues within Serbian 2016 election campaign
27Apr2016

What is the Security Policy of Serbia and Why It Was Out of Scope during the Electoral Campaign?

The Public Policy Research Centre presented the results of the election monitoring of security issues within the electoral campaign and a policy brief entitled ''What is the Security Policy of Serbia?'' by Jelena Radoman, a CENTRE's member. 

The analysis of the election monitoring addressed the following questions among others:

  • What and how did the political parties approach a wide range of security issues during the electoral campaign? 
  • Who did they address to and whether they followed their political programs in terms of security? 
  • What are the problems of Serbia in this area and what possible answers are?

 

In its analysis of the security policy of Serbia, Radoman answered what political actors meant by the policy of military neutrality and whether it could solid basis for conducting coherent security policy. She also examined whether adopted solutions were grounded in governmental capacities to conduct the policy and what the existent practice of collaboration in the field of security policy said about the Serbian foreign policy.

The results of the analysis of ten security issues within the electoral campaign - NATO, military neutrality, police, military, refugees, migrants, extremists, security, and domestic violence - showed that the parties have missed the opportunity to offer citizens a coherent vision of the Serbian security policy, said Svetlana Djurdjevic Lukic, CENTRE's director, at the presentation. The analysis was a part of the project supported by the DCAF. 

The parties have also failed to provide arguments on a range of topics which have a direct impact on the quality of life - from strengthening civil and democratic control of the military,police and security services to misuse of arms, migrant crisis, terrorism and Euro-Atlantic integration, said Djurdjevic.

The lack of interest in comprehensive communication with voters is reflected in the fact that many political parties irregularly update their programs, create election coalitions which are not accompanied by harmonized programs, and do not utilize the parties’ websites to publish concrete solutions. Instead, they improvise and rely on their ad hoc created opinions in the media and election rallies, said Tanja Jakobi, a CENTRE's researcher.

Despite the fact that different groups of citizens, women, children, religious and ethnic minorities face a variety of security risks, political parties almost exclusively addressed the general electorate. Only in rare cases women and Roma are mentioned. The anniversary (NATO bombing), external events (the Hague decision, the Croatian stand on Chapter 23), and incidents related to the campaign primarily triggered comments related to the security.

Jelena Radman pointed to ambiguities and inconsistencies within the Serbian security policy and the need for officials to closely deal with the benefits and requirements which are embodied to the commitment to the policy of military neutrality.

"The policy of military neutrality was a former resort of decision makers to avoid giving clear answers and offering consistent ideas related to the security policy of Serbia," said Radoman noting that neutrality served as  a form in which the content was optionally filled out by ruling elites, from deepened and institutionalized cooperation with NATO to military cooperation not only with Russia, but also with the United States.

"The content of the just completed electoral campaign showed the absence of a minimum consensus on what is the security policy of Serbia and what is the content of its military neutrality. The 2009 National Security Strategy has failed to define these. The ongoing process of drafting a new Strategy, about which is little known in the public, should result in a document which will spell out what are the values protected by Serbia, by what means and in which partnerships. This process should be transparent and allow a wide participation of different actors from the field of security," she added.