ABSTRACT
Serbia’s interactions with these non-Western actors have flourished in the past fifteen years in different domains -from security and foreign policy to economy and society, despite Serbia’s uninterrupted commitment to EU integration. The aim of this chapter is to map out the range of linkages Serbia has established with these non-Western actors; to assess the ability of these actors to project influence in Serbia; and to explore whether such influence today represents a threat to the implementation of the EU’s liberal reformist agenda. While acknowledging that none of the non-Western powers studied has developed a relationship with Serbia that is as comprehensive as the EU’s both in terms of depth and scope, this chapter argues that non-Western linkages, mostly shaped by instrumental motives, often convey forms of influence, which purposefully or not, may collide with the liberal reformist agenda promoted by Western powers and the EU in particular.
