The April paper argues that the "popular response to Kosovo's independence" is "characterised by a mixture of two dominant discourses".
Obradovic outlines Serbs' two main responses to the Kosovo issue, which are "clearly represented" by Serbian President Boris Tadic's Democratic Party (DS) and Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS).
The author portrays Kostunica's discourse as "emotional" and based on "high moral ground", while Tadic's is seen as "pragmatic" and tends to orientate towards "legality debates". Obradovic stresses that both politicians' discourses are based on the popular assumption that Kosovo is an "integral part of Serbia [and] Serbian identity" and perceive its declaration of independence to be "illegal".
The paper points out that the protests following Kosovo's independence took place for "different reasons", thus showing that the Serb response is not as "uniform" as it may seem. For instance, some expressed dissatisfaction at "US imperialism", "disregard for international law" and "the way in which independence was achieved," says the paper.
The paper further claims that Kostunica draws on "conspiracy theory" to "blame the international community for Kosovo's independence". Its independence generated a "sense of injustice" on the part of the Serbians, says the paper, as they consider the international community "mistreated" them.
Faced with a rising "negative attitude towards the EU," the author concludes that Serbia must "find a way to reconcile" two opposite notions of Europe: the "conspirational ideas of Europe as an enemy" and "the desire [for] and aspiration towards European standards," says Obradovic.
