STRATEGIC EUROPEANIZATION OF SERBIA AND THE EU IMPACT: THE CASE OF COOPERATION WITH INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL TRIBUNAL FOR THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA

From the very beginning, the majority of Serbs have evaluated the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) both as anti-Serb and as an instrument created to punish Serbs only. This sentiment created a strong resistance among them against cooperation with the Tribunal. Furthermore, European Union’s and United States of America’s pressures and threats on Serbs in order to force them extradict their war heroes, revived the historic Serbian anti-West victom based feelings. However, since war-thorn Serbia was so humiliated and isolated both politically and economically, Serbs couldn’t figure out any other alternative then to build institutional relations with the EU in order to get rid of this desparate situation and return back to Europe. Nevertheless, cooperation with the ICTY had been put forward by the EU as a precise and indispenseble condition for even the initiation of such relations. Therefore, both the Serbian public’s and politicians’ initial consistency on noncooperation started to change. Besides, in accordance with the rational choice institutionalists’ assumptions, the building of institutional relations with the EU had even increased EU’s impact capacity on Serbia. Ultimately, magnetic and transformative impact of the EU has overcome and successfully convinced Serbia to extradict its most important leaders and former war heroes to Hague.

This study primarily aims to explain the reasons for Serbia’s consent to extradict its war criminal suspects to the ICTY. Evaluating the period between the October 2000 Revolution and the extradiction of Goran Hadzic in July 2011 as the last remaining fugitive of ICTY, this research suggests that; regarding the relations with the Tribunal, the post-Cold War experience of Serbia proves the validity of rational choice institutionalist arguments to a large extent.