Tarnished Nationalism. Rehabilitating Serbia’s Reputation on the World Stage
Reputation management is a concern not just for individuals and organizations, but for nation states. Rehabilitating a tarnished reputation is part of the attempt by national entrepreneurs to create images that build “soft power;” a form of cultural authority. This is a concern especially for smalle...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
University of Bologna
2022-10-01
|
| Series: | Sociologica |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://sociologica.unibo.it/article/view/13703 |
| _version_ | 1798030336283639808 |
|---|---|
| author | Emma E.S. Brandt Gary Alan Fine |
| author_facet | Emma E.S. Brandt Gary Alan Fine |
| author_sort | Emma E.S. Brandt |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Reputation management is a concern not just for individuals and organizations, but for nation states. Rehabilitating a tarnished reputation is part of the attempt by national entrepreneurs to create images that build “soft power;” a form of cultural authority. This is a concern especially for smaller nations that lack “hard power” through the dominance of their economy or military. We investigate how governmental actors and leading societal institutions attempt to rehabilitate a country’s image. In doing so, we present the case of contemporary Serbia, which acquired a negative international reputation resulting from not just the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s, but also from long legacies of racialization via discourses of Orientalism and “Balkanism” in Western perceptions of Southeastern Europe. Unlike its neighbor, Croatia, Serbia is not a European Union member and lacks a seacoast with which to attract tourists. As a result, it must gain positive international attention in other ways. Through the examples of promoting sports successes (in basketball and tennis), “pinkwashing” or highlighting symbolic LGBT integration (while perhaps lacking day-to-day integration), becoming a popular nightlife destination, welcoming refugees as a stop on the “Balkan route,” and, most recently, deploying efforts at Covid-19 “vaccine diplomacy,” we consider the challenges to Serbia’s attempt to rehabilitate its difficult reputation. Not only is the country’s international standing a matter of profound concern to its inhabitants — having economic, political, and symbolic impacts — but Serbia is an archetypal case to understand the perception of “problematic” nations on the world stage. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T19:39:36Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-91c49788764d49fea50eb42aaee7e20e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1971-8853 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T19:39:36Z |
| publishDate | 2022-10-01 |
| publisher | University of Bologna |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Sociologica |
| spelling | doaj.art-91c49788764d49fea50eb42aaee7e20e2022-12-22T04:06:45ZengUniversity of BolognaSociologica1971-88532022-10-0116210311610.6092/issn.1971-8853/1370312026Tarnished Nationalism. Rehabilitating Serbia’s Reputation on the World StageEmma E.S. Brandt0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7316-7528Gary Alan Fine1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2431-1562Department of Sociology, Northwestern UniversityDepartment of Sociology, Northwestern UniversityReputation management is a concern not just for individuals and organizations, but for nation states. Rehabilitating a tarnished reputation is part of the attempt by national entrepreneurs to create images that build “soft power;” a form of cultural authority. This is a concern especially for smaller nations that lack “hard power” through the dominance of their economy or military. We investigate how governmental actors and leading societal institutions attempt to rehabilitate a country’s image. In doing so, we present the case of contemporary Serbia, which acquired a negative international reputation resulting from not just the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s, but also from long legacies of racialization via discourses of Orientalism and “Balkanism” in Western perceptions of Southeastern Europe. Unlike its neighbor, Croatia, Serbia is not a European Union member and lacks a seacoast with which to attract tourists. As a result, it must gain positive international attention in other ways. Through the examples of promoting sports successes (in basketball and tennis), “pinkwashing” or highlighting symbolic LGBT integration (while perhaps lacking day-to-day integration), becoming a popular nightlife destination, welcoming refugees as a stop on the “Balkan route,” and, most recently, deploying efforts at Covid-19 “vaccine diplomacy,” we consider the challenges to Serbia’s attempt to rehabilitate its difficult reputation. Not only is the country’s international standing a matter of profound concern to its inhabitants — having economic, political, and symbolic impacts — but Serbia is an archetypal case to understand the perception of “problematic” nations on the world stage.https://sociologica.unibo.it/article/view/13703reputationserbianationalismbalkans |
| spellingShingle | Emma E.S. Brandt Gary Alan Fine Tarnished Nationalism. Rehabilitating Serbia’s Reputation on the World Stage Sociologica reputation serbia nationalism balkans |
| title | Tarnished Nationalism. Rehabilitating Serbia’s Reputation on the World Stage |
| title_full | Tarnished Nationalism. Rehabilitating Serbia’s Reputation on the World Stage |
| title_fullStr | Tarnished Nationalism. Rehabilitating Serbia’s Reputation on the World Stage |
| title_full_unstemmed | Tarnished Nationalism. Rehabilitating Serbia’s Reputation on the World Stage |
| title_short | Tarnished Nationalism. Rehabilitating Serbia’s Reputation on the World Stage |
| title_sort | tarnished nationalism rehabilitating serbia s reputation on the world stage |
| topic | reputation serbia nationalism balkans |
| url | https://sociologica.unibo.it/article/view/13703 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT emmaesbrandt tarnishednationalismrehabilitatingserbiasreputationontheworldstage AT garyalanfine tarnishednationalismrehabilitatingserbiasreputationontheworldstage |