ON JUNE 23RD, in the presence of as many foreign dignitaries as he could muster, Aleksandar Vucic had himself anointed president of Serbia. The former prime minister, elected on April 2nd, had taken the oath of office in May, but decided to stage a big inaugural ceremony to demonstrate his stature. To succeed himself as prime minister Mr Vucic nominated Ana Brnabic, an openly gay woman, earning plaudits from foreign liberals.
In fact it is Mr Vucic who will run the country, and he is no liberal. Yet Western leaders are relieved. Serbia is the most powerful country in the western Balkans, and Mr Vucic, whatever his flaws, can keep it stable. Variations on this deal can be seen across the region. Some are calling such governments “stabilitocracies”.
Mr Vucic’s main opponent in the presidential race was Vuk Jeremic, a former foreign minister. The campaign was filthy. Media sympathetic to Mr Vucic made outlandish allegations: Mr Jeremic was purportedly a secret Muslim supported by Islamic State who had been complicit in a high-profile murder; his wife supposedly headed a drugs cartel. The police abruptly questioned him over alleged financial improprieties. No charges were filed, and Mr Jeremic says the stories were all fiction.
What happened to Mr Jeremic shocked no one. According to Srdja Pavlovic, the Montenegrin academic who coined the term...Continue reading
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