The security perception and security policy of Serbia

Serbia has important role in the regional peace and stability in South Eastern Europe. Over the last three decades Serbian security policies have been directly shaped by numerous turbulent political, social, and economic circumstances. In order the better to understand what determines the patterns of development and perceptions of Serbian security strategy and defence policies, a comprehensive overview of the legislative and institutional mechanisms of Serbian security and foreign policy in combination with content analysis of the key strategic security documents and analysis of the socio-political developments in Serbian society were conducted. After a period of confrontational discourse and abuse of the security system, the democratic changes in Serbia in the beginning of 2000s resulted with reforms in the security system as well. However, many of them were not undertaken systematically. Serbian security and foreign policy priorities are mainly determined by the EU accession process and the status of Kosovo.