Montenegro: European Integration in Times of Geopolitical Turmoil

Montenegro, a small multi-ethnic Balkan state, is a frontrunner in the EU accession process. After joining NATO in 2017, the country has an ambition to become the 28th EU member-state by 2028. Yet, certain domestic political actors, supported by Serbia's increasingly autocratic regime and in line with Russian strategic interests in the region, seek to prevent the country's European integration. This makes Montenegro an important piece of a wider geopolitical puzzle and, from a theoretical point of view, a very interesting case study.

Ivan Vuković is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Political Science, University of Montenegro. He holds an MA degree from Leiden University and PhD from Central European University. As a Fullbright scholar, he completed his postdoctoral studies at George Washington University. Currently, he is a member of the Parliament of Montenegro and Chairperson of the European Integration Committee. Previously, he served as a Mayor of Podgorica, Montenegro's capital city.

Also a scholar at the Middle East Institute, Daniel Serwer is the author of From War to Peace in the Balkans, the Middle East and Ukraine (Palgrave MacMillan, 2019) as well as Righting the Balance (Potomac Books, November 2013), editor (with David Smock) of Facilitating Dialogue (USIP, 2012) and supervised preparation of Guiding Principles for Stabilization and Reconstruction (USIP, 2009). Guiding Principles is the leading compilation of best practices for civilians and military in post-war state-building.

As vice president of the Centers of Innovation at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), Serwer led teams working on rule of law, peacebuilding, religion, economics, media, technology, security sector governance and gender. He was also vice president for peace and stability operations at USIP, overseeing its peacebuilding work in Afghanistan, the Balkans, Iraq and Sudan and serving as executive director of the Hamilton/Baker Iraq Study Group.

As a minister-counselor at the U.S. Department of State, Serwer directed the European office of intelligence and research and served as U.S. special envoy and coordinator for the Bosnian Federation, mediating between Croats and Muslims and negotiating the first agreement reached at the Dayton Peace Talks; from 1990 to 1993, he was deputy chief of mission and chargé d’affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Rome, leading a major diplomatic mission through the end of the Cold War and the first Gulf War.

Serwer is a graduate of Haverford College and earned masters degrees at the University of Chicago and Princeton, where he also did his PhD in history of science.

Dr. Siniša Vuković is Senior Lecturer of Conflict Management and Global Policy, and the Director of the Master of Arts in Global Policy Program (MAGP).

Previously, he was the Associate Director of the Conflict Management Program (2018-2021). His research focuses on various forms of international conflict resolution, negotiation and mediation. He has published in a range of scholarly journals such as Journal of Peace Research, Cooperation and Conflict, Global Policy, The Washington Quarterly, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, Swiss Political Science Review, Millennium Journal of International Studies, International Journal of Conflict Management, International Negotiation, Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, and Ethnopolitics; policy-relevant outlets such as Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, European Council on Foreign Relations, World Economic Forum, Sustainable Security, and Policy Forum; and contributed to several edited volumes with book chapters.

His is the author of International Multiparty Mediation and Conflict Management (Routledge, 2017), and Rethinking Conflict Management and Resolution (with I. William Zartman; Edward Elgar, 2023), and the co-editor of Revisiting the Ripeness Debate (with Tetsuro Iji; Routledge, 2022). His current book projects include: The International Negotiation Process (with P. Terrence Hopmann), and The Research Handbook on the Politics of International Agreements (with P. Terrence Hopmann, Edward Elgar, 2024).

He has taught a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses related to the field of conflict management, with a particular focus on the process of negotiation and mediation. He is also a visiting professor at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, Leiden University, and at the Amsterdam University College, University of Amsterdam. He received his PhD in International Relations and Conflict Resolution at Leiden University, an MA in International Relations and Diplomacy from Leiden University and The Netherlands Institute of International Relations “Clingendael”, and a BA (laurea) in Political Science from University of Rome “La Sapienza”. He is the recipient of many research grants, including “Rubicon” from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), and Gerda Henkel Foundation research grant.

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