Influence of the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China on attitudes of citizens of Serbia about the European Union.
This master’s thesis investigates the correlation between the ongoing growing influence of Russia
and China in Serbia since 2012, and Serbia’s ongoing European accession process as the candidate
country. Through the prism of the soft-power concept, this work examines how the two non-EU actors
influence the attitudes of the Serbian people towards the European Union. The main spheres of
influence are divided into the political, economic, and cultural spheres, in which, as will be shown,
the EU lost its superior position in the Serbian society, and which represent a significant obstacle
towards Serbia’s Europeanisation. The results of these influences are visible in the public opinion
polls divided into three periods, with special emphasis on the latest results and the major geopolitical
events like the war in Ukraine and the Corona crisis, during which the effects of anti-EU sentiments
were most visible. The sources of this work include academic works of the most prominent soft
power academics, relevant research on China’s, Russia’s, as well as the EU’s presence in Serbia,
which are supplemented by the governmental and non-governmental public opinion polls, used to
describe the public sentiments of the people in Serbia. This thesis aims to provide valuable insights
into the highly-divided Serbian society and to reveal factors which affect ordinary people’s stances
toward the main political actors, in order to illustrate a much clearer picture of the European Union’s
position in its candidate country.
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