Garcevic Publishes Op-Ed on Protests in the Balkans
Ambassador Vesko Garcevic, Professor of the Practice of International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, published an Op-Ed on the recent wave of anti-government protests in Serbia, Montenegro, and Albania, that have brought tens of thousands of people to the streets.
Amb. Garcevic published a March 22, 2019 Op-Ed in The Globe Post entitled “Could Wave of Protests in the Balkans Finally Bring About Change?”
From the text of the Op-Ed:
After months of marching, a logical question is: what comes next?
Protests can easily become radicalized as happened last weekend in Serbia and Albania. Demonstrations can be hijacked by the nationalistic opposition, which will make the Kremlin happy. Neither of these is a recipe to success.
Besides Albania, where the possibility of early elections is looming, there are few signs that the ambitious political demands of protesters will be heeded. The regional governments see the time as their strongest ally. Not being under pressure, they believe that the street energy will die out. That is why the Balkans experiences a similar pattern over and over. Every few years, citizens take to streets to express their revolt against corrupt politicians, but after a while, the vigor fades out, and the countries return to their old tricks.
In this political equation, to win a ticket for the democratic ride, you need Brussels on your side. However, the E.U. seems to have been caught on the wrong foot, or simply has other priorities.
During his diplomatic career, Amb. Vesko Garcevic dealt with issues pertinent to European security and NATO for almost 14 years. In 2004, he was posted in Vienna to serve as Ambassador to Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. He had been a Montenegro’s Ambassador to NATO from 2010 until 2014 and served as a Montenegro’s National Coordinator for NATO from 2015 until he joined the faculty at the Pardee School.