Serbia’s Delayed Transformation: Illiberal Practices, External Approvals and the Politics of Opportunity

This article elaborates on Serbia’s problematic transformation. The incapacity of the Democratic Party-led government to tackle a whole range of issues (mostly due to malfunctioning institutions) and consolidate Serbia’s future proved detrimental in the 2012 elections. As a result, the Serbian Progressive Party came to occupy a central role on the political scene. However, the party’s electoral promises were very soon abandoned making the adopted approach look semi-authoritarian. Equally worrying has been the West’s unwillingness to criticise this trend, which has encouraged suspicion about its genuine interest in promoting democracy in Serbia as well as the wider Western Balkan region