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NEWEST BOOK
‘Balkanization’ and the Euro-Atlantic Processes of the (Western) Balkans: Back to the Future
This book explores how ‘balkanization’ as a discourse underpins the policies of the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) toward the (Western) Balkans. It shows how EU and NATO policies have emerged from, and led to, the constant reinvention of the unity of the West through ‘balkanizing’ the region, and illustrates how this dynamic is maintained by and instrumentalized for the political elites. Through a genealogical analysis that stretches from the Balkans Wars to more recent events such as (North) Macedonia’s change of name in 2018, I show how Western policies have aimed at recreating the united West on the back of the ‘broken’ Balkans.
PROMINENT PUBLICATIONS
#Balkanization: A Critical Study of Otherness through Twitter
I examine ‘balkanization’ as a long-standing discourse of identity construction, otherness, and stereotyping through Twitter. Although deriving from the Balkans and attached to the Balkan Peninsula, the ‘balkanization’ discourse has gained a life of its own. I challenge its current manifestations shaped by the era of social media and identify and connect its meanings with deeper processes of historical events.
The Multidimensional Soft Power of Illiberal States: Russia in the Western Balkans
co-authored with Adriana Cuppuleri
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This article makes a threefold contribution to the study of soft power. First, it presents a two-dimensional conceptualization of Russia’s soft power. Second, it analyzes whether Russian soft power in the Western Balkan countries remains ideologically relevant. Finally, it contributes to surmounting the liberal democratic bias in the study of soft power of illiberal states.
Knots of Socio-Spatial Segregation through Multidimensional Identities and Intersectional Solutions: The case of Chicago and beyond
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Racial and ethnic segregation in Chicago is as old as the city itself. This white paper explains how residents experience this segregation in their daily lives. These experiences differ by race, but they also are distinct by other identities such as whether a resident is a male, a mom, a Muslim, or employed. The community partners we talk to clearly articulate the tight knots of challenges to daily living that result from socio-spatial segregation.
The sounds of silence: Democracy and the referendum on (FYRO)/(North) Macedonia
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The article is a critique of democratic theory’s insistence to ascribe meanings to nonvoters’ silences. I argue that ambiguous silence can be analytically valuable if we look at what it does rather than what it means. The referendum on North Macedonia’s name and its aftermath is used as an illustration
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Columbia Records, "The Sounds of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel US vinyl". 1965. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Sounds_of_Silence_by_Simon_and_Garfunkel_US_vinyl.png
The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Peace and Conflict Studies
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co-edited with Oliver Richmond, Gëzim Visoka, and others.
This encyclopedia offers an extensive exploration of peace and conflict studies, a key sub-discipline of international studies born from understanding war and its aftermath. Covering interdisciplinary topics, it ranges from war studies and statebuilding to human rights, environmental dimensions, and the psychology of peace. PEPCS, authored by top scholars, stands as the most current and comprehensive resource in the field.
OTHER
PUBLICATIONS
2022 / Reviewing Socio-Spatial Segregation in the United States: History, Policies, and the Way Ahead. Institute for Racial Justice, Loyola University Chicago. Accessible online: https://www.luc.edu/media/lucedu/irj/GMF-lit%20synthesis-forRelease-Nov2022.pdf.
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2022 / Reviewing Socio-Spatial Segregation in the United States: City Profiles. Institute for Racial Justice, Loyola University Chicago. Accessible online: https://www.luc.edu/media/lucedu/irj/CTL%20City%20Profiles-forRelease-Nov2022-1.pdf.
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2019 / Balkanization. The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Peace and Conflict Studies: Springer. Accessible online: https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-3-030-11795-5_34-1.
​2017 / Europe’s new Balkan problem or the Balkan’s new Europe problem: Terrorism and Radicalisation in the EU’s South Eastern borderlands. Dublin: Defence Forces Ireland.
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2019 / “What’s in a Name: The Republic of North Macedonia, the Empire Strikes Back”. IICRR blog. Accessible online: https://iicrr.ie/whats-in-a-name-the-republic-of-north-macedonia-the-empire-strikes-back/.
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2018 / “What’s in a Name: The Republic of (North) Macedonia”. IICRR blog. Accessible online: https://iicrr.ie/whats-name-republic-north-macedonia/.
PUBLICATIONS
IN PROGRESS
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2023/24 / Richmond, Oliver; Visoka, Gëzim; Pogodda, Sandra; and Veliu Ashiku, Liridona (ed). “Local and International Peacemaking in a Turbulent Era: Blockages and Innovations Across the International Peace Architecture” [book] . Palgrave Macmillan.​
RESEARCH
IN PROGRESS
“Being a Šiptar: How racialized identities of Albanians inform current intraregional
dynamics in the Western Balkans” [journal article].
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The Western Balkans and Southeast Europe are primarily known and studied through the prisms of ethnopolitical conflict and international security. Recent innovative academic contributions to studying the region argue for integrating “race” into Southeast European studies. This paper expands on and contributes to such literature particularly through exploring the racialized identity of Albanians as a non-Slavic people within a predominantly Slavic region such as the Western Balkans from a critical race theory perspective.