I’ve been playing quite a few wargames recently, and 2026 has a frightening “last-round madness” vibe. No shadow of the future. Players start their riskiest moves as if there were no tomorrow - especially scary when you take into account the unusually high average age of most world leaders involved.

12 more days to apply! Hurry up!

Call for papers: Solidarity in Europe (SiE) annual conference www.eui.eu/events?id=57...

Call for papers: EUI Workshop on Political Behaviour in Central & Eastern Europe www.eui.eu/news-hub?id=...

Dictatorchic 🤮

Following the Kremlin playbook, the authoritarian regime in Serbia is suppressing the student movement, opposition groups, and other domestic critics by portraying them as agents of a Western-backed colour revolution.

Four more weeks to submit your proposals for this amazing conference!👇

Call for Papers, Contesting Imperialism(s), CEEISA Annual Conference, Sarajevo 17-19 June 2026. Submit your papers or panels until March 2026! Program chairs: Aida Hozić and Dženeta Karabegović ceeisa2026.com

Call for Papers, Contesting Imperialism(s), CEEISA Annual Conference, Sarajevo 17-19 June 2026. Submit your papers or panels until March 2026! Program chairs: Aida Hozić and Dženeta Karabegović ceeisa2026.com

🎉 Vol 51(6) is out!🎉 This SPECIAL ISSUE includes 8️⃣ new research articles as well as an introduction from the special issue editors, @jelenasubotic.bsky.social & @elifkalay.bsky.social. The articles are all free to read this month, so be sure to take a look and enjoy 👇 📚Read Here ➡️ buff.ly/WxL7JlR

When a government sends police into a university, it sends a clear message: dissent is unwelcome. In Novi Sad, students and professors protesting the dismissal of Professor Jelena Kleut were removed by force from the Faculty of Philosophy.

I’m very excited that years of work with Dorry Noyes (@mershoncenter.bsky.social) and a fantastic group of friends and colleagues finally resulted in this, I think, rather beautiful object. The Global Politics of Exemplarity! @normativeorders.bsky.social @prif.org @brisunipress.bsky.social 1/4

Journal of Regional Security Vol. 20, No. 1 (2025) has been published: scindeks.ceon.rs/issue.aspx?i.... This special issue explores the impact of institutions on radicalization and violent extremism (VE) in the Balkans and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. #openaccess

CALL FOR PAPERS Journal of Regional Security Special Issue on Energy and Regional Security Dynamics (Spring 2027) Guest Editor: Dr Nevena Šekarić Stojanović, Institute of International Politics and Economics Deadline 31 January. More information : cis-fpn.rs/call-for-pap...

Victor Asal From Pentagon to Classroom: RAND’s Hedgemony as a Pedagogical Tool in Graduate IR and Security Studies @jpseeditors.bsky.social @filipejdus.bsky.social Krivokapić Popović @markodkovacevic.bsky.social @vardamilan.bsky.social Aleksandra Rajković www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1...

News from CEEISA. Save the date!!

Interested in using wargames in the classroom? We played RAND’s Hedgemony: A Game of Strategic Choices with our students and we shared the experience in an article published in Journal of Political Science Education. Free download copies are available here: www.tandfonline.com/eprint/ZPNBF...

Slightly over two more weeks remain to apply for the European Security Studies Conference, jointly organised by the COST Action NetSec, the European Initiative for Security Studies (EISS), and Stockholm University. 11th - 12th June 2026, Stockholm🇸🇪 HURRY UP! eiss-europa.com/2026.html?mc...

Continuing the thread from Serbia, last night I went to the launch of a platform documenting police violence/repression against Serbian citizens in protests, starting from the aleged use of sound canon on 15 March to the large-scale operation to suppress the protest in Novi Sad on 5 September 1/

☀️The new issue - incl. #FREE content - is out now! 👉 www.tandfonline.com/toc/fjcs21/4... cc @adamfagan.bsky.social @andreapirro.it @lenkabustikova.bsky.social @filipejdus.bsky.social @angeltorresadan.bsky.social @karin-kvr-slyms.bsky.social @denisakost.bsky.social @lanabi.bsky.social 👇👇⚡

European Security Studies Conference Jointly organised by: the COST Action NetSec, the European Initiative for Security Studies (EISS), and Stockholm University. 11th - 12th June 2026 Stockholm University Submit your abstracts! eiss-europa.com/2026.html?mc...

CEU is hiring an Assistant Professor in International Relations (IR) with a focus on Security and Conflict Studies! careers.ceu.edu/job/Vienna-A...

Rarely does a story so perfectly encapsulate authoritarianism, crony capitalism, Trump’s greed and garishness, destruction of cultural heritage and calls for national rebirth after collective victimhood. Definitive article on this is by @filipejdus.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Latest poll: 44% for the student list, 32% for Vučić-led block. The regime lost majority despite almost total control of the media and the misuse of all the public resources to discredit, repress, intimidate and silence critics. crta.rs/en/majority-...

Vučić now calls student protestors “satanists” obviously in an attempt to pit them against the religious people. The regime seems to be running out of labels to discredit the movement, as all the others have worn out: terrorists, foreign agents, self-haters, traitors etc vreme.com/vesti/vucic-...

Youth protests in Serbia, and lessons for the U.S. by @timothysnyder.bsky.social snyder.substack.com/p/youth-prot...

📢 How do citizens in the Western Balkans & Associated Trio see global actors, their partners, and their own future?The #GEOPOWEREU project shares fresh results from a Public Opinion Survey across 🇦🇱🇧🇦🇽🇰🇲🇪🇲🇰🇷🇸🇺🇦🇲🇩🇬🇪 A short🧵⤵️

Judge for yourselves ❤️ www.theguardian.com/world/live/2...

If you want an update on the protests in Serbia, listen to Lazar Popović (student), Irena Joveva (MEP), and me in a panel organised by the Henry Jackson Society on 26 August. www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9k0...

It’s high time indeed! archive.ph/2025.08.18-1...

Catharsis, rearticulation of desire and ontological insecurity: The case of Serbia’s attachment to Kosovo by @filipejdus.bsky.social and Marina Vulovic. 2/6 www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Regime-driven disinformation level up! Ana Brnabić, the speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, now propels a conspiracy theory that the canopy in Novi Sad killing 16 people was a “diversion” organized to start a “color revolution”. www.021.rs/story/Novi-S...

Surprise, surprise! The Russian MFA endorses the Vučić regime’s police brutality against pro-democracy protesters. mid.ru/en/foreign_p...

Vučić is going full Lukashenko as his regime escalates violence and repression against pro-democracy protesters. Serbia is rapidly descending into the abyss of a naked dictatorship of fear. balkaninsight.com/2025/08/15/s...

New @risjnl.bsky.social #OpenAccess article by @filipejdus.bsky.social and Marina Vulović out now! 🌟 Entitled: 'Catharsis, rearticulation of desire and ontological insecurity' @cambup-polsci.cambridge.org 📚 Key arguments 👉 buff.ly/4cteZu7 Full article 👉 buff.ly/aBzcLeT

But wait! There's more. @filipejdus.bsky.social and Marina Vulovic explore how a proposed land swap between Serbia and Kosovo resulted in the recovery of Helen of Anjou's heritage to construct Northern Kosovo as a space of Serbian heritage and attachment www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

If elections were held now in Serbia, students and the opposition would win by a landslide (+12%) according to the latest poll. To win, Vučić would have to go beyond irregular and unfair practices into the realm of unfree and stolen elections. www.danas.rs/vesti/politi...

🇷🇸 At our joint mid-term conference with GEO-POWER-EU in #Belgrade earlier this week, Prof. Filip Ejdus opened with powerful remarks Serbia stands at a crossroads —between deepening authoritarianism and the path to EU integration. @tepsa.bsky.social @horizoneu.bsky.social @bezbednost.bsky.social

That’s a wrap! A full house today at our joint conference w/ @reunir.bsky.social in 🇷🇸 — featuring the launch of the GEO-POWER-EU Interdependence Database (shorturl.at/cYbbJ) & insights from both projects! Thank you to all speakers, participants & partners for a great event! @horizoneu.bsky.social

M. Delević, Director at European Bank for Reconstruction and Development,emphasized in her closing remarks: “After the war in Ukraine, things changed, enlargement gained new momentum and became more geopolitical and we were all reminded that the core purpose of🇪🇺integration is #peace and #stability.”

Constellation of consortia met yesterday in Belgrade to discuss the role of the EU in the Western Balkans in the Eastern Neighbourhood. @GEOPOWER_EU @REUNIR_Horizon #InvigorateEU @HorizonEU It was a pleasure to host this important meeting ! @bezbednost_org @FPN_Beograd

We are at the Europe House🇷🇸for our joint conference w/ @reunir.bsky.social! @filipejdus.bsky.social opened the event by noting 🇷🇸 is at a crossroads after 6+ months of political crisis, emphasizing that if #EU🇪🇺 enlargement struggles in the Union's immediate neighborhood, it may struggle elsewhere too

If the enlargement of #EU fails in its immediate neighbourhood, its actorness and influence in the world will be in the question. @filipejdus.bsky.social at the opening of @geopower-eu.bsky.social conference in Belgrade

From yesterday’s viva of Tijana Rečević, who successfully defended her PhD thesis on public opinion and common sense in foreign and security policy. Many thanks to the committee members, Professors Kovačević, Đukanović, and Mitzen, for their insightful contributions. Proud to be her supervisor!

Hey 🇪🇺! Serbian students are fighting for democracy, accountability, and the rule of law — the very values you stand for. They keep knocking on your door. It’s high time to walk the talk and back them with action! apnews.com/article/serb... @vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu @martakos.ec.europa.eu

Pescanik columnist Dejan Ilic arrested over N1 interview. Transformation of the Vučić regime into a full autocracy is complete. n1info.rs/english/news...