European Security Studies Conference 2026

Knowing cybersecurity: The epistemic infrastructural power of big tech

Vortragende:r: Tobias Liebetrau (University of Copenhagen)

Big tech companies authoritatively produce data, information, and knowledge about cybersecurity threats to individuals, businesses, and states. But how do they render international cybersecurity phenomena knowable? Through which practices, means, and devices is this knowledge generated? This paper argues that examining the epistemic infrastructural power of… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

Governing cybersecurity and the politics of state control in the digital age

Vortragende:r: Moritz Weiss (LMU Munich) · Vortragende:r: Ms Yagnyashri Kodaru (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich)

Digital technologies have become deeply entangled with the fabric of contemporary societies. Data infrastructures and cybersecurity practices underpin not only economic activity but also state authority and national security. This growing entanglement gives rise to a central question: how are states reorganizing their authority structures and cybersecurity… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

Cyber risk logics and their implications for cybersecurity

Vortragende:r: Sarah Backman (Swedish Defence University) · Dr Tim Stevens

Cybersecurity in national and international security is frequently discussed in an existential register. However, most cybersecurity activities are normal and routine, including diverse practices of cyber risk management. The intricacies of cyber risk and its connection to security and threat politics have received surprisingly little attention in the cyber… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

Do Parliaments Dream of Cyber Power? Parliamentary Scrutiny in the Strategic Domain of Cyberspace

Vortragende:r: Mattia Sguazzini (University of Genova, Italy)

Cybersecurity has become central to strategic competition and foreign policy, yet research has focused primarily on executive decision-making, military doctrines, and national cyber strategies, marginalising parliamentary roles in this securitised and technically complex domain. This paper examines how legislatures scrutinise cyber policy in democratic… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

Mapping Plural Visions of Peace: The Peace Cube as an Analytical Framework

Vortragende:r: Yijun Xu (Free University of Berlin) · Dr Gijsbert Van Iterson Scholten (University of Amsterdam)

Recent debates in peacebuilding have moved beyond the liberal peace paradigm to emphasize plural, locally grounded understandings of peace. However, despite this “local turn,” the field still lacks systematic tools for conceptualizing and comparing diverse visions of peace across actors and contexts. This article addresses this gap by proposing a new… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

Interpreting Counterterrorism in African Conflict Management

Vortragende:r: Saurav Narain (Leiden University) · Vortragende:r: Silvia D'Amato (James Madison University)

Scholarly attention to the convergence between international conflict management and counterterrorism has expanded significantly, though with an implicit interpretation of the ‘use of force’ logic, and an emphasis on UN peacekeeping’s downsizing of protection and human rights norms in engagement with the concept (Moe, 2021; Geis and Moe, 2023). Furthermore,… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

Socialized to Cooperate? Foreign Military Training and Coordination in UN Peacekeeping Operations

Vortragende:r: Ilker Kalin (Stockholm University) · Prof. Carla Martinez Machain (University at Buffalo, SUNY)

United Nations peacekeeping operations (PKOs) are inherently multinational and rely on coordination among national contingents with diverse military cultures, doctrines, and rules of engagement. While existing research shows that mission composition and prior in-mission experience shape peacekeeping effectiveness, we know far less about whether coordination… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

From rebels’ to State’s justice: post-conflict justice choices in 2026 Syria

Vortragende:r: Marie Robin (Leiden University)

How do rebels deliver justice when they reach power? This contribution examines post-conflict justice choices in Syria following the political transition of December 2024, focusing on how the new leadership under Ahmad al-Sharaa needs to address widespread human rights violations committed during the al-Assad era. These violations include crimes perpetrated… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

Upload Pending? Tradeoffs, Uncertainty, and Damage-Limitation in a Multipolar Age

Vortragende:r: Tyler Bowen (United States Naval War College)

How does China’s nuclear modernization affect U.S. nuclear strategy? What are the crisis bargaining and crisis stability implications of the emerging nuclear balance between the United States and China? How might the nuclear balance evolve over time? This paper addresses these questions. I argue that by building more hardened targets, China is imposing a… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

From Precision to Existential Risk: Hypersonic Weapons and the Erosion of the Conventional–Nuclear Divide

Vortragende:r: Mr Tahir Azad (Department of Politics & IR, University of Reading, UK)

Recent hypersonic weapon technology advances have changed military power, challenging conventional and nuclear warfare distinctions. Hypersonic glide vehicles and cruise missiles, promoted as precision, speed, and deterrence, are compressing decision-making timelines, circumventing missile-defence architectures, and blurring strategic stability-underpinning… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

Legitimating the Bomb: US Efforts to Manage Public Information about Nuclear Weapons after World War II

Vortragende:r: Jennifer Erickson

The horrific physical, medical, and environmental effects of nuclear weapons underpin long-standing ideas about nuclear deterrence, as well as challenges to their legitimacy and legality. Yet while US planners anticipated the bomb’s immense physical destruction in Japan 1945, they paid little attention to its probable medical and environmental effects.… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

The Gender politics of LIO contestation: A research Agenda

Vortragende:r: Elisabetta Ginevra Iida (University of Padova)

Since the end of the Cold War, international security has been guaranteed by the so-called Liberal International Order(Ikenberry 2011; Mearsheimer 2019). But its implementation has never been peaceful (Ikenberry 2010) and has always been subject to important contestations (Alcaro 2018). Adopting a constructivist framework (Wendt 1999), we consider the… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

No Woman's Land: Securitisation of Female Forced Migration in Afghanistan

Vortragende:r: Jéssica da Costa Pereira (NOVA University of Lisbon - School of Social Sciences and Humanities)

Forced migration is a phenomenon present in globalisation’s dynamics, as is the absence of women in the conceptualisation of the processes that shape the lives of citizens. At the intersection of these two realities, we aim to analyse female forced migration as a security issue, analysing the absence of gender in the definition of forced migrant by the… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

Artistic Resilience-Building in Lithuania’s Local Security Policy

Vortragende:r: Anna Luisa Reinhardt (Sciences Po, Northern German Lutheran Church, Lithuanian Diakonija)

**Abstract** Lithuanian orphans sing patriotic songs at Šakiai Diakonija, my diaconal workplace, located just a 20-minute drive from the Russian border—and roughly 2 minutes for the medium-range missiles stationed in Kaliningrad. Recentring human security in the investigation of **children’s lives at EU borders**, this contribution offers valuable insights… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

Gendering Non-Traditional Security: A Comparative Analysis of Sexual Violence, Reconciliation and Post-War Development in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Colombia

Vortragende:r: Teodora Stoicescu (National University of Political Studies and Public Administration)

This paper will focus on the gender-based violence during armed conflicts as a non-traditional security challenge that is affecting the post-conflict development, stability and any peacebuilding effort. The analysis will be situated within feminist studies and will focus on how post-conflict approaches towards policies, reconciliation and reparations need… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

Learning from Ukraine: The West must be prepared for positional warfare

Vortragende:r: Baptiste Alloui-Cros (Oxford University) · Vortragende:r: Giles Moon (Oxford University)

Conceptual Inquiry into Military Deep Operations: A Framework for Analysis

Vortragende:r: Mr Martijn Rouvroije (Netherlands Defence Academy - Faculty of Military Sciences) · Vortragende:r: Martijn Rouvroije (Netherlands Faculty of Military Sciences)

Working in the Margins: Can Small State Special Operations contribute to Deterrence?

Vortragende:r: Troels Burchall Henningsen (Royal Danish Defence University)

Domestic Politics and Military Aid to Ukraine: Explaining Disclosure Policies in France and Germany

Vortragende:r: Marius Ghincea (European University Institute) · Wolfgang Minatti (European University Institute)

Why have France and Germany adopted divergent – and shifting – policies on disclosing their military aid to Ukraine? We argue that domestic politics, not international signaling or political culture, best explains this puzzle. We theorize that leaders use transparency as a legitimation tool to manage audience costs when their policy preferences diverge from… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

Reconceptualizing nuclear deterrence and national identity: the cases of Finland and Sweden

Vortragende:r: Emma Rosengren (Stockholm University)

Ritual deterrence, magic strategies, and nuclear war in Europe

Vortragende:r: Prof. Matthew Evangelista (Cornell University)

Nuclear Futures, Utopias, and the Case for a Renewed ‘Strict Sufficiency’

Vortragende:r: Benoît Pelopidas (Sciences Po)

Plus ca Change: Continuity in the French Nuclear Approach.

Vortragende:r: July Decarpentrie (Swedish Defence University)

EU’s Ontological Security and Geopolitical Enlargement

Vortragende:r: Nikolaos Tzifakis (University of the Peloponnese)

Geopoliticisation of EU Enlargement in the Western Balkans and Eastern Partnership: A Role-Theoretical Perspective

Vortragende:r: Marko Kovačević (University of Belgrade) · Vortragende:r: Milan Varda (University of Belgrade) · Vortragende:r: Dr Tijana Rečević Krstić (University of Belgrade)

Filling the EU’s Identity Void from Without and Within – Forging a Geopolitics of Values

Vortragende:r: Kurt Bassuener (Democratization Policy Council, Sarajevo)

From Normalisation to Strategic Stabilisation: Geopolitisation of the Pristina–Belgrade Dialogue within EU Enlargement

Vortragende:r: Filip Ejdus (University of Belgrade) · Alexandra Prodromidou (York Europe Campus, Business School) · Faye Ververidou (York Europe Campus, Business School) · Sonja Stojanovic Gajic (University of Rijeka / University of Belgrade)

AI-Driven Cloud Monitoring and Cyber Situational Awareness in European Digital Infrastructures

Vortragende:r: Prof. Daniela Mechkaroska (University of Information Science and Technology “St. Paul the Apostle”, Ohrid, N.Macedonia) · Prof. Ervin Domazet (International Balkan University, Faculty of Engineering)

Abstract: Artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing, combined with IoT systems through digital interconnection, create virtual environments that merge with physical spaces. The new operational capabilities that these transformations bring to European digital ecosystems create security challenges, governance issues and societal concerns. Existing… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

Quantum-Resilient SATIN and European Digital Sovereignty

Vortragende:r: Dr Gürkan Gür (Zurich University of Applied Sciences ZHAW)

This contribution presents and discusses quantum-resilient Space–Aerial–Terrestrial Networks (SATIN) as a crucial enabler of European future-proof digital sovereignty, strengthening secure communications, resilient critical infrastructure, and reinforcing Europe’s leadership across satellite, drone, and terrestrial networking domains.

Classical geopolitics in cyberspace: Explaining cyber state behaviour with power position

Vortragende:r: Lorenz Sommer (Geschwister-Scholl-Institute for Political Science, LMU Munich)

Cyberspace is a new domain of state security competition that differs from the conventional and nuclear realms, most notably because states are constantly engaged in cyberspace operations below the threshold of armed attacks. This inclines many scholars to use new approaches, both theoretically and empirically, to measure and explain cyber state behaviour.… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

Selling the Future of War: Discursive Power and Military Innovation

Vortragende:r: Nicolas Krieger (Technical University of Munich)

How do ideas about military technology become politically influential? This paper sets out to examines how competing visions of military technology emerge, gain dominance, and shape German defence planning. It focuses on public debates surrounding ‘classic’ (armour, artillery, etc.) and innovative military technologies (autonomous weapon systems, AI… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

Disclosure and Duplicity: How Technology Influences International Competition

Vortragende:r: Tristan Volpe (IFSH University of Hamburg / Naval Postgraduate School) · Prof. Jane Vaynman (SAIS Johns Hopkins)

How do states manage information when building military capabilities? Some weapons are developed openly while others are concealed within secret programs or disguised behind civilian cover. This article introduces arming strategy as a new dependent variable, arguing that two technology attributes shape the disclosure and deception choices critical to… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

The Self-Reliance Dilemma in Conventional Weapons: When does India Innovate Instead of Import?

Vortragende:r: Ms Yagnyashri Kodaru (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich)

Most national defense industries face a dilemma between technological self-reliance and (inter)dependence. While indigenously building weapons increases self-reliance, it can come at the cost of economic and technical efficiency. Conversely, interdependence helps a state integrate into global innovation/production networks and potentially access the most… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

Sending the Wrong Signals: When Armaments Worry Allies

Vortragende:r: Tim Thies (Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg)

While the role of armaments, and in particular forward-deployed military forces, as signals of reassurance is well-established in the scholarly literature, existing research has not explored when and why armaments may worry allies. In this paper, I consider disagreements between allies about the right armaments by the patron for the defense of a client as… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

Fortifying the Eastern Flank: Leveraging Historical Lessons to Create Effective Defence Systems

Vortragende:r: Alexander Lanoszka · Vortragende:r: Dr Michael Hunzeker (George Mason University)

In early 2024, Poland and the three Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania announced plans to put up fortifications along their eastern frontier. Yet one lesson that analysts might draw from contemporary experience is that defensive systems of the sort planned for parts of NATO’s so-called Eastern Flank have little to no utility except for… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

Anticipated Failure: Why States Go to War Un(der)prepared

Vortragende:r: Mariya Grinberg (MIT)

Why do states engage in wars for which they are un(der)prepared? Specifically, why do states enter wars when they have good reason to expect that they will not be able to achieve their strategic objectives with their chosen war plans? To understand why states would go to war with flawed plans, we need to know two things: (1) what options to modify the… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

Revisiting Multi-Domain Operations: A Historical Reflection on the Respective Roles of Combination and Prioritisation in the Conduct of War

Vortragende:r: Dr Samuel Zilincik (Royal Danish Defence College) · Dr James Horncastle (Simon Fraser University)

NATO’s new operational concept Multi-Domain Operations (MDO) assumes combining various military and non-military tools is essential and beneficial for winning future wars. In this article, we offer a historical perspective to enunciate the MDO’s underlying philosophy. Specifically, we argue that combining tools is not inherently necessary nor beneficial,… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

Influence as Strategic Infrastructure: China, NATO, and Competition Below the Threshold of War

Vortragende:r: Sara Russo (Centre for High Defence Studies (CASD)) · Mrs Giulia Biselli (Centre for High Defence Studies (CASD))

Strategic competition is increasingly unfolding below the threshold of armed conflict, where influence over perception, legitimacy, and coordination might determine the outcomes without the use of force. While widely acknowledged, influence is still treated as an auxiliary component of military and political strategy, framed through information operations… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

Water In-Security and Climate Migration in Iraq Analyzing Socio-Economic Threats

Vortragende:r: Saman Omar (College of Humanity, University of Duhok, Kurdistan Region of Iraq) · Ms Dunia Baban (Stockholm University)

The 2018 UN GEO-6 report classified Iraq 5th most climate vulnerable globally and the UN have further warned that by 2035, Iraq may meet only 15% of its total water demand if current severe water crises trends persist. Equally, as latest as September 2025, IOM recorded that 186.00 Iraqi people are displaced due to water scarcity. In 2025, the Iraqi… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

Living with the nuclear: Spatio-temporal entanglements, nuclear cultures, and the afterlives of uranium mining

Vortragende:r: Elisabeth Saar (Hamburg University)

This paper examines how uranium mining in East Germany - embedded in the geopolitical dynamics of the Cold War - produced specific nuclear cultures that continue to shape the present. Framing the management of nuclear legacies as a local and global security issue, the paper highlights how uranium extraction and its afterlives intersect with environmental,… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

Fragile Control: How De Facto States Degrade Nuclear Security in the Donbas

Vortragende:r: Eliza Gheorghe (Bilkent University) · Ms Isil Idrisoglu (University of Pittsburgh) · Mrs Yanina Shved-Dogrul (Bogazici Universitesi)

Nuclear security research treats states as the primary managers of nuclear and radiological risk, with non-state actors as key challengers. This overlooks de facto states - separatist polities that exercise territorial authority without broad recognition. We argue that de facto states create zones of authority without recognised responsibility, weakening… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

From Platforms to Networks: The Political Hurdles of Transitioning to Data-Centric Warfare

Vortragende:r: Mr Dumitru-Catalin Vasile (National School of Political and Administrative Studies, Bucharest, Romania)

Modern military strategy is undergoing a paradigm shift, moving away from a "platform-centric" model defined by the capabilities of individual assets such as tanks, fighter jets, and carriers toward a "network-centric" model prioritizing connectivity, data fusion, and multi-domain integration. While the operational necessity of this transition is widely… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

NATO as an Innovation Hub? How Emerging and Disruptive Technologies Are Reshaping Allied Innovation

Vortragende:r: Vasiliki Plessia Aravani (Diplomatische Academie Wien, University of Vienna)

The literature on military diffusion has traditionally treated alliances as transmission paths through which nationally developed military technologies are disseminated among allies. In this view, NATO is exclusively portrayed as a forum for standardization and doctrinal coordination rather than also a site of military innovation. This paper revisits this… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

From Rogue States to Russia: How Threat Perceptions Drove Congressional Support for Low-Yield Nuclear Weapons, 1993–2020

Vortragende:r: Frank Kuhn (Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF))

In 2020, the United States deployed the W76 2 low-yield nuclear warhead on its ballistic missile submarines, marking a pivotal shift in a contentious, three decade Congressional debate over the role of low-yield nuclear weapons in U.S. nuclear policy. Congress first banned research and development on such weapons in 1993, partially repealed that prohibition… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

Vectorial Analysis of Hybrid Warfare: Directionality, Interaction, and Systemic Effects

Vortragende:r: Fabio Duarte (Czech Technical University / Charles University)

The concepts of 'hybrid warfare' and 'hybrid threats' have expanded into a wide, heterogeneous set of typologies, primarily centred on instruments and actors. As the range of activities labelled “hybrid” continues to grow, existing approaches increasingly struggle to explain how diverse hybrid actions combine, interact, and generate systemic effects below… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

Explaining Heterogeneity in Public Support for Collective Defense in NATO: Evidence from a Cross - National Survey of Allied Countries

Vortragende:r: Isabelle Haynes (Charles University) · Dr Ondrej Rosendorf (Charles University) · Michal Smetana (Peace Research Center Prague / Charles University)

The deteriorating European security environment underscores the continuing relevance of NATO’s collective defence commitments. Since NATO is a military alliance comprising 32 electoral democracies, the commitment to defend any member relies on the domestic politics of its members. For these commitments to be credible, the alliance requires domestic… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

The Confidence Trap: Leader-Advisor Deliberations and the Making of (In)Credible Threats

Vortragende:r: Wendy He (S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU))

Conventional wisdom holds that states with superior capabilities, clear interests, and strong reputations issue more credible threats, while weaker states struggle to convince. Yet strong states sometimes fail to convince while weaker states occasionally succeed. Why? I argue that credibility is first formed within internal deliberations, shaped by how… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

Cooperation under Stress: Organisational Compatibility and NATO–EU Cooperation in a Fractured Transatlantic Order

Vortragende:r: Mark Rhinard (Stockholm University) · Vortragende:r: Dr Niklas Bremberg · Anna Michalski · August Danielson

Recent debates on transatlantic security cooperation widely assume that renewed political tensions -- most notably driven by the Trump II administration -- have undermined cooperation between NATO and the European Union. Such claims typically rest on assessments of strategic alignment at the political level. This paper argues that these assessments risk… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

Small states in the current international war agenda: Between shelter seeking and souverenism

Vortragende:r: Mitko Arnaudov (Institute of International Politics and Economics)

Current international relations are facing with the chapter characterized with so-called war public discourses, as well as decision-making processes which are erasing the international infrastructure based on the rule of law. In such context, so-called big powers have adapted to realist thougths about the functioning of the international system, while… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

Beyond the State: Voluntary Civilian Pro-Defence Organisations and Security Governance in Georgia

Vortragende:r: Rusudan Zabakhidze (Swedish Defence University)

This paper explores how the resurgence of interstate war in Europe following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has reconfigured relations between defence and society, with particular attention to the role of voluntary pro-defence organisations in security governance. Over the past decade, states historically alert to Russian imperialism have… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

From Privateers to Private Maritime Security: Irregular Maritime Actors and the Long History of Delegated Security at Sea

Vortragende:r: Pieter Zhao (Erasmus University Rotterdam)

This paper examines the re-emergence of private maritime security companies (PMSCs) in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, situating their rise within both recent developments in maritime security and a broader historical context. Since the early 2000s, PMSCs have become a visible feature of global shipping security, particularly in… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

Criminalising Solidarity: Border Securitisation, Non-State Actors, and Vernacular Humanitarianism in Europe

Vortragende:r: Mia Abdić

Border securitisation, externalisation, and the criminalisation of humanitarian assistance in migration contexts have become increasingly prominent features of European migration governance. This paper explores the phenomenon of the criminalisation of solidarity through a comparative overview of these practices in France, Italy, Greece, and Spain, alongside… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

The Strategic Logic of Violence During Negotiations

Vortragende:r: Johannes Lucht (ETH Zurich) · Prof. Allard Duursma (ETH Zurich) · Evan Perkoski (University of Connecticut)

Negotiations are essential to ending armed conflict, yet we know surprisingly little about how violence evolves during the negotiation process itself. While existing research demonstrates that negotiations are essential for ending armed conflicts, most studies treat “negotiations” as a single event rather than a dynamic, multi-round process. This paper… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

What are tactical nuclear weapons for? The multiple logics of NATO’s theater nuclear posture

Vortragende:r: Linde Desmaele (Leiden University)

'Europe is Not a Country': Nuclear Patronage and Eurodeterrence Concerns in the Frontline States

Vortragende:r: Christopher David LaRoche (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Central European University)

Patterns of Foreign Nuclear Deployment: Understanding Host State Refusal in NATO

Vortragende:r: Jacklyn Majnemer (LSE)

Conceptualizing Nuclear Umbrellas

Vortragende:r: Alexander Sorg (Hertie School)

Cybercrime & AI: Resilience-by-Design in the Information Age: Tabletop Evidence on AI-Enabled Cybercrime, Coordination, and Public Trust

Vortragende:r: Gil Baram (UC Berkeley and Bar Ilan University)

Digital technologies are entangling cyber risk, digital infrastructure, and governance. This paper argues that AI-enabled cybercrime is best understood as a transformation of the cybercrime ecosystem rather than merely as a set of new technical tactics. It draws on UC Berkeley’s “AI-Enabled Cybercrime: Exploring Risks, Building Awareness, and Guiding Policy… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

Financial (In)Security, TikTok, and the Far-Right Pipeline

Vortragende:r: Clara Jammot (King's College London)

While the relationship between far-right extremism, libertarianism, and neoliberalism has long been established, algorithmic recommendation as well as the lucrative professionalisation of content creation are leading platforms like TikTok to impact how financial (in)security feeds into the far-right’s proliferation. The rise in influencers promoting an… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

Telegram in Russia’s Information Strategy: Evidence from Serbia

Vortragende:r: Anna Seliverstova (Linnaeus University)

Digital platforms have become central arenas of contemporary geopolitical competition, blurring the boundaries between the virtual and the physical, the informational and the political. This paper examines Telegram as a key element of Russia's contemporary information warfare and influence operations, focusing on its role in shaping political discourse in… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

Narrative Amplification, Plot Structures, and Emotions on VKontakte: Tsargrad’s Popular Geopolitics in the Russo-Ukrainian War

Vortragende:r: Alexandra Brankova (Swedish Defence University) · Ms Dalia Pablo Ortiz (Uppsala University)

This paper explores narrative amplification and plot structures on VKontakte by focusing on Tsargrad Society and Tsargrad TV’s channels. Key narratives and their sub-stories are presented, accounting for platform amplification patterns measured through the number of likes, analysis of posts, and affiliated comments. This study further develops the concepts… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

Western Balkan Criminal Groups and the Transformation of Regional Security

Vortragende:r: Dr Kire Babanoski (Faculty of Security - Skopje, University "St. Kliment Ohridski" Bitola, North Macedonia)

Criminal groups in the Western Balkans are influential non-state actors which informally regulate illegal markets, provide protection, and establish strategic partnerships with political and economic elites. They operate outside, alongside, and sometimes within state structures, and often through robust cross-border networks. They are quite flexible and… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

Peace as Stalemate: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Forever Missions and the Strategic Logic of Frozen Peace

Vortragende:r: Dr SENADA ŠELO ŠABIĆ (Institute for Development and International Relations, Zagreb, Croatia)

More than three decades after the Dayton Peace Agreement, Bosnia and Herzegovina remains subject to a continuous international military presence and extensive external governance, yet without achieving political stability or institutional consolidation. This paper examines Bosnia as a paradigmatic case of forever missions and frozen peace: interventions… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

Pitfalls of Transitional Justice and (In)Security in the Western Balkans: Case Study of Serbia

Vortragende:r: Dr SANDRA CVIKIĆ (Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar, Regional Center Vukovar)

Drawing on the author's previous work, this paper offers insight into the implementation of transitional justice policies in the Western Balkans after the violent wars that accompanied the dissolution of socialist Yugoslavia, with a focus on the former Yugoslav state of Serbia. This qualitative sociological analysis explores the paradoxical effects of the… Vollständiges Abstract lesen

Bosnia and Herzegovina on the Edge of European Stability

Vortragende:r: Prof. Kenan Hodžić (Assistant Professor) · Prof. Jasmin Ahić (Full Professor)

Bosnia and Herzegovina occupies a critical position in the security architecture of the Western Balkans, serving as a nexus of domestic vulnerabilities, regional dynamics, and broader European security concerns. This paper employs the multi-level security framework (Buzan, Wæver & de Wilde, 1998) to examine the intersection of internal political… Vollständiges Abstract lesen