Is Belgrade the New Casablanca? Serbia's Place in The Emerging World Order

Abstract

In an attempt to define the international position of Serbia, this paper deals with the hypothesis that Serbia's specific mode of neutrality, mixed with a semi-vassal status in relation to the West, is similar to the position of Casablanca shown in the film of the same name from 1942. It is, therefore, about a state that is neutral, which all the actors tacitly admit while reproaching it for sitting on more than one chair and saying that it has to decide which one to sit on. Over time, all the world and regional actors have crowded into “Casablanca”, but until recently, the real power was exclusively in the hands of the Americans. It is characteristic of this system that it is unstable and that it can slip into a vassal system and make Serbia an object of politics, but it is also possible that neutrality is becoming real by ending the vassal relationship due to the diminishing power of the United States and the West as a whole. Thanks to many factors, one of which is the mood of the Serbian people, the impression is that the year 2022 has turned in the direction of enabling independent Serbian foreign policy.