Yesterday’s parliamentary election in Serbia delivered a decisive victory to the opposition Student List (SL) over the 14-year rule of Aleksandar Vučić’s Serbian Progressive Party (SNS). This offers a real opportunity for change in Serbia and the region – but it will be a long and uncertain road.

Great #Serbia pre-election story by Pawel Trzaskowski for TVP. DPC co-founder @kurtbassuener.bsky.social makes a cameo appearance re the de facto state funeral for convicted genocidaire Ratko Mladic and lame Commission President von der Leyen response. youtu.be/HpfPifxi71Q?...

Serbia after the collapse: How anger changed a nation | Special Report

YouTube video by TVP WORLD

youtu.be

DPC's Kurt Bassuener spoke with RFE/RL's Milorad Milojevic about RU MFA spox Maria Zakharova's statements about the Western Balkans, their EU aspirations, and interests. Bassuener notes that Moscow clearly sees the EU as its main opponent in the region." www.slobodnaevropa.org/a/zapadni-ba...

Moskva traži biranje strana, EU poručuje Zapadnom Balkanu da nastavi evropski put

 

slobodnaevropa.org

The latest episode of DPC Voice, in which @valeryperry.bsky.social interviews Aleksandra Zdeb on the theme of popular mobilization - and positive/creative applications and reactionary ones... 👇

Valery Perry@valeryperry.bsky.social · 5d ago

Great conversation for DPC Voice with Aleksandra Zdeb, on power sharing, polarization & tribalism; citizen protests in Serbia, Albania, & France, and how citizen frustration can either be used to build new social contracts, or exploited by elites seeking scapegoats. open.spotify.com/episode/05ys...

Talk Eastern Europe is a great podcast, go check out their conversation with Kurt

Democratization Policy Council@dpcglobal.bsky.social · 2w ago

DPC Senior Associate @kurtbassuener.bsky.social's conversation with Alexandra Karppi for @neweasterneurope.eu's Talk Eastern Europe podcast, on Bosnian & Serbian elections, the US sharp pivot, and why "the West" no longer is a useful political expression. www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDaw...

DPC Senior Associate @kurtbassuener.bsky.social's conversation with Alexandra Karppi for @neweasterneurope.eu's Talk Eastern Europe podcast, on Bosnian & Serbian elections, the US sharp pivot, and why "the West" no longer is a useful political expression. www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDaw...

Is the West Abandoning the Balkans? | Kurt Bassuener

YouTube video by Talk Eastern Europe

youtube.com

Preliminary results from yesterday’s general elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina – the first with an electronic voting system intended to reduce fraud – indicate considerable strengthening of nationalist parties in legislatures in both entities, at the state and entity levels. 1/

At yesterday’s (June 30) meeting of the Peace Implementation Council Steering Boad Ambassadors (#PIC SBA), the successor to outgoing High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Christian Schmidt, was to be once again discussed and decided upon. 1/

Many questions about ongoing protests in Albania at today's midday briefing of the European Commission. Interesting to compare and contrast the Commission's clear and loud position regarding implications for Albania's EU path with its weak response to democratic backsliding in Serbia.

My latest guest blog for @biepag.bsky.social on how Europe+ can take the initiative in the #WB6 in the interests of these countries' citizens - and their own. www.biepag.eu/blog/europe-...

Europe+ Needs to Ensure Security in the Western Balkans – Including Its Own

Most Western Balkan leaders comfortably inhabit an indeterminate gray zone. They want the validation and benefits of being EU partners without paying the freight. In this sense, the entropy in Bosn...

biepag.eu

DPC's Valery Perry speaks with @pippagallop.bsky.social of @ceebankwatch.bsky.social in the latest DPC Voice, our new podcast, regarding the Southern Interconnection pipeline project, which has been aggressively pushed forward by the US. open.spotify.com/episode/6uug...

DPC talks with Bankwatch's Pippa Gallop - Zagreb

open.spotify.com

Latest opinion piece by Senior Associates @kurtbassuener.bsky.social and @tobyvogel.bsky.social: the EU should push back against a Trump-backed pipeline project in Bosnia and Herzegovina

EU should take a stand against Trump-backed pipeline in Bosnia

By Kurt Bassuener and Toby Vogel The European Union claims to support the green transition in the Western Balkans. So why is it about to give in to a US-sponsored pipeline project – the so-called Sout...

linkedin.com

We've been led to think that in an election 50%+1 represents a majority of preferences. Are there better options? In the latest episode of #DPCVoice, Senior Associate Valery Perry spoke w/ Peter Emerson of the De Borda Institute to try to answer this question. open.spotify.com/episode/0WHG...

DPC talks with Peter Emerson - Belfast, Northern Ireland

open.spotify.com

DPC's latest, by @kurtbassuener.bsky.social, on how Europe+ ought to respond to the challenge of succeeding High Rep Christian Schmidt in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It cannot simply be a personnel decision - it constitutes a strategic choice in a region where the EU has great leverage.

Kurt Bassuener@kurtbassuener.bsky.social · 5mo ago

My / @dpcglobal.bsky.social's latest for @balkaninsight.com.web.brid.gy on how Europe+ ought to respond to the challenge posed by a de facto US alliance w reactionary Bosnian & Balkan leaders, in the succession of High Rep Christian Schmidt. balkaninsight.com/2026/05/18/i...

1/Potez dolazi nakon mjeseci špekulacija da SAD o pritisku na Schmidta. To označava jednu u nizu promjena pristupa SAD prema BiH počevši od prošlog Oktobra sa ukidanjem sankcija osuđenom bivšem predsjedniku RS-a Dodiku, koji je i dalje de facto lider tog entiteta. www.oslobodjenje.ba/vijesti/bih/...

1/ Two days before his semiannual report to the UN Security Council, High Representative Christian Schmidt announced that he would be resigning his post as international High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH).

1/ Resource extraction, particularly mining of critical minerals, has become an increasingly visible focus of external actors in the Western Balkans. @dpcglobal.bsky.social's case study on the Vares mining project provides a detailed look into the structural dynamics at play, domestic and foreign,…

DPC's latest argues that the people of Hungary, who shook off an authoritarian, Russia- and MAGA-aligned regime, deserve some introspection about what made Orbán's abuse of power possible – from the EU and from other pro-democracy forces. Business as usual should not be an option.

DPC is starting an occasional series of interviews with people who have interesting perspectives on democratic opportunities, democratic threats, effective governance, changing global geopolitics, and other issues.

Were the Trump administration’s actions in Venezuela the first chance to see what operationalization of the new US National Security Strategy looks like? Senior Associate @valeryperry.bsky.social talked about this with WXXI’s Evan Dawson, exploring the downsides of a “sphere of influence” approach.

What does American action in Venezuela mean for democracy abroad?

In the first hour of "Connections with Evan Dawson" on 1/8/26, a democratization policy expert discusses potential repercussions of the Trump administration's attempts to strong-arm other nations.

wxxinews.org

The latest from @dpcglobal.bsky.social colleague @valeryperry.bsky.social, on today's Putin-Trump meeting

Valery Perry@valeryperry.bsky.social · last yr.

As we wait to see what will unfold in Alaska today, beware of Sharpie geopolitics in a world that requires complexity… I explore this idea more in the latest DPC blog: www.democratizationpolicy.org/sharpie-geop...

"Vučić’s increasingly brutal repression of peaceful protests has put the EU’s policy at an inflection point..." Latest by @tobyvogel.bsky.social and @kurtbassuener.bsky.social for @euobserver.com www.euobserver.com/eu-and-the-w...

The EU's fence-sitting as Serbia's Vučić steps up violent state repression

The EU choosing “stability” in the current moment means de facto endorsement of violent repression in Serbia. The EU’s timid messaging has in fact encouraged Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić to step...

euobserver.com

1/ Another sign that voters in the democracies are repelled by what they see in the US under Trump. Democratic solidarity is not hubbed in Washington anymore. apnews.com/article/aust...

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wins a second 3-year term

Anthony Albanese has claimed victory as the first Australian prime minister to win a second consecutive term in 21 years.

apnews.com

1/ Canadians have demonstrated their commitment to sovereignty & dignity, but also the profound impact of Trump’s policy & rhetoric. www.democratizationpolicy.org/canadians-le...

My latest blog post for @dpcglobal.bsky.social - The Fear, Patronage, and Inat Politics of Trump 2.0 www.democratizationpolicy.org/the-fear-pat...

Alleged EU statements reported by Bosnian media that EUFOR cannot conduct arrests seem based on the EU's political narrowing of its Dayton Annex 1A & 2 mandate. The renewal by the UNSC is also clear - EUFOR has the authority to take "all necessary measures" to ensure a safe and secure environment...

1/ Latest article by DPC senior associate @valeryperry.bsky.social for @projectsyndicate.bsky.social, tying the Western Balkans to numerous processes and phenomena in the Trump 2.0 age: www.project-syndicate.org/magazine/wes...

The Western Balkan Bellwether | by Valery Perry - Project Syndicate

Valery Perry sees the region as a window into three interconnected phenomena that will shape Europe's near-term future.

project-syndicate.org

DPC's @kurtbassuener.bsky.social appeared with @jasminmuj.bsky.social and SNSD's Srdjan Mazalica on @aljazeeraenglish.bsky.social's Inside Story yesterday on RS President Milorad Dodik's challenge to the Dayton order and rule of law in #Bosnia. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Twi7...

What's behind the political crisis in Bosnia Herzegovina? | Inside Story

YouTube video by Al Jazeera English

youtube.com

DPC's blog on yesterday's ugly Oval Office spectacle and the importance of tomorrow's meeting of European leaders, with President Zelenskyy, in London. Europe+ must now be the universal connector of democracies. www.democratizationpolicy.org/the-twilight...

1/ Yesterday’s meeting between Ukrainian President Zelenskyy & US President Trump at the White House, in which Trump and VP JD Vance hectored Zelenskyy, who energetically refuted their false claims & emphasized his country’s need for security guarantees in any peace agreement,...