Wilson Center Experts
Lenard J. Cohen
European Studies
Affiliation:
Professor Emeritus at Simon Fraser University
Related Content for this Expert
Embracing Democracy in the Western Balkans
December 07, 2011 // 1:00pm — 2:00pm
"Embracing Democracy in the Western Balkans" explores the complex and challenging facets of state-building and nation-building in weak states with little democratic experience and daunting socio-economic problems. more
294. Democratic Consolidation in Serbia: Pitfalls of the Post-Djindjic Transition
Jul 07, 2011March 2004 - The results of the December 28, 2003 parliamentary elections began a new phase in Serbia's post-Milosevic development. Considerable attention has been focused on the surge of support for the highly nationalistic Serbian Radical Party (SRP), formerly headed by Vojislav Seselj, who at the time of the election was awaiting trial at The Hague tribunal. Seselj's Radicals, now headed by Tomislav Nikolic, received 28 percent of the vote and 82 seats in the 250-seat Serbian National Assembly. But it is important to remember that the other major election winners were from a broad grouping of reformist, democratically-oriented parties, albeit some quite conservative. For example, the Democratic Party of Serbia (DPS), headed by Vojislav Kostunica, received 18 percent of the vote and 53 seats. The party of the assassinated Premier Zoran Djindjic, the Democratic Party, received 13 percent of the vote, garnering 37 seats. The G-17 Plus, headed by Miroljub Labus, won 34 seats and 11.5 percent of the vote. And Vuk Draskovic's Serbian Renewal Movement (SRM) received 7.7 percent of the vote and 22 seats in alliance with the small party called New Serbia (NS). more
164. Nationalism, The Kosovo Crisis, and Political Change In Serbia
Jul 07, 2011October 1998 - The mass-based, extreme brand of nationalism, connected with the rise of Slobodan MiloŠevic and with the most cataclysmic years of Yugoslavia's meltdown and disintegration (1990-93), has to a large extent dissipated. However, political forces advancing extreme nationalist sentiments, as well as popular support for those views, remain strong in Serbia and among Serbs in other areas such as Kosovo and the Republika Srpska (as we have just seen from the electoral results in Bosnia). Although intellectual ideologists of Serbian nationalism and ultra-nationalism have been dispirited by MiloŠevic's failures, fundamental views about Serbia's national and territorial interests persist, related to feelings of "wounded national pride." Talk of pursuing a "Greater Serbia" and open revanchism are now rather less visible, as soul-searching occurs about recent Serb experiences in the Balkans. There is still, however, a strong commitment in various circles to the pursuit of Serbian national interests, as well as resentment about what has occurred over the last decade. more
Embracing Democracy in the Western Balkans: A Progress Report
April 29, 2009 // 12:00pm — 1:30pm
Lenard Cohen, Professor of Political Science, Simon Fraser University; John Lampe, Professor of History, University of Maryland-College Park more
Embracing Democracy in the Western Balkans
December 07, 2011 // 1:00pm — 2:00pm
"Embracing Democracy in the Western Balkans" explores the complex and challenging facets of state-building and nation-building in weak states with little democratic experience and daunting socio-economic problems.
Embracing Democracy in the Western Balkans: A Progress Report
April 29, 2009 // 12:00pm — 1:30pm
Lenard Cohen, Professor of Political Science, Simon Fraser University; John Lampe, Professor of History, University of Maryland-College Park