A real say on Serbian-American relations

The attitudes of Serbian citizens towards the United States today are burdened by prejudices due to the 1999 NATO intervention in FR Yugoslavia and its consequences, as well as the role of the United States in resolving the status of Kosovo and Metohija. On the other hand, the Serbian public is not sufficiently acquainted with the financial support that the United States provides to the state and the private sector, which amounted to 432 million euros from 2009 to 2018. As a result, almost 60% of Serbian citizens oppose cooperation with the United States.

Given that the knowledge of the Serbian citizens about the relations between Serbia and the United States is burdened with prejudices and limited by important information about the foreign and security policy of Serbia, the project “A real say on Serbian-American relations” aims to create space for open discussion on various aspects of Serbian-American relations. Public debates will be organized by Belgrade Centre for Security Policy in partnership with the Faculty of Political Science, University of Belgrade, and with support of the US Embassy in Serbia. As a result of these debates, the BCSP will publish five brief analyzes that will be presented to the general and professional public, as well as to decision makers. In addition, the general public will be informed about the Serbian-American relations through a campaign on social networks that includes the production of short videos, as well as by publishing interviews with selected experts in daily newspapers. After the announced public competition, students of the Faculty of Political Sciences and other faculties will be able to write short stories about Serbian-American relations. The authors of the three best stories about Serbian-American relations will have the opportunity to participate in a study trip to the military base “Jug” in Bujanovac and visit the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia.

This discussion is part of the “A Real Say on Serbian-American Relations”, project implemented by the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy in partnership with the Faculty of Political Sciences University of Belgrade with the support of the US Embassy in Serbia.