Identities: Journal for Politics, Gender and Culture

Cycling to Brussels: Democratic Subjectivity Between Situationship and Political Form

Jelisaveta Blagojević, Irena Cvetković — Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This paper argues that the contemporary impasse of European Union enlargement is not a temporary delay but a structural condition of political suspension. Rather than operating as a linear process of convergence, enlargement unfolds through deferral, ambiguity, and managed proximity. Drawing on political theory and recent student movements in Serbia, the paper develops the distinction between relationship and situationship to conceptualize forms of political belonging that are neither fully institutionalized nor entirely external to institutions. It argues that democratic subjectivity increasingly emerges outside institutional frameworks and that the future of enlargement depends on the capacity to recognize these emergent forms as political rather than residual.

Internal Mobilization and European Integration. Polish Lessons and Macedonian Experience

Spasimir Domaradzki — Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The process of European integration gained extensive enlargement track record. The consecutive waves of newcomers expanded the Union and enriched it with their own experience. Each country, due to its specificities, delivers another pattern of reproachment, different timelines and most of the times, successful membership in the EU.
The purpose of this text is to explore the existing nexus of the current Macedonian government narrative on the relations with the EU and its implications for the advancement on it. Using Poland as a source of enlargement related experience, this paper stresses the role of internal mobilization as a driver of European integration and argues that in the Macedonian case, structural improvements can be made, in order to improve the role of civil society in the European debate. Hence, this paper aims to encourage a reflection on the nature of the current enlargement related dynamics in Macedonian politics and its implications for Skopje’s EU membership perspective.

Illiberal loyalists: Viktor Orbán’s regional clientelistic networks in the Western Balkans

Christina Eva Griessler — Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

After the decisive Hungarian parliamentary election on 12 April 2026, which ousted long-time Prime Minister Viktor Orbán from power, it might be apt to take stock of his policies toward the countries of the Western Balkans. Officially, the Hungarian government, under the leadership of Orbán, always supported the EU accession of the Western Balkan countries, but at the same time adopted anti-EU narratives. Moreover, on a bilateral level Orbán provided financial and political support to establish loyal networks and influence politics in the region. Orbán’s objective was to create a regional leadership role for himself, which seems to be the driving factor of establishing close relationships with the political leaders in the region. The research question is whether Orbán succeeded in establishing a leadership role in the Western Balkans, supported by a regional clientelist network? The article provides an overview of the background of the Hungarian foreign policy role and Orbán’s interpretation of Hungary’s place in Europe. The paper provides insights into Hungary’s motivations for cooperation with the Western Balkan states and how the anti-EU narratives and the disdain for “Brussel” in FIDESZ rhetoric were framed. Moreover, the paper examines the concepts of clientelism, corruption, and state capture, which were partly deliberately expanded into Hungary’s neighbouring states in order to increase Hungarian influence in the region. The paper assesses the bilateral relations between Hungary and the Western Balkan states from 2010 until 2026, with a special focus on relations with Serbia and North Macedonia. The analysis of the bilateral relations is based on investigative reports and newspaper articles. The relationship with Orbán can be categorised into a low-intensity of just personal sympathy, a more strategic relationship of ideological alignment and the final stage, which combines loyalism, ideological outlook and links it to the establishment of clientelist networks.

Misinformation Through Selective Information Geared Toward Anti-EU Narrative Building

Katerina Kolozova — Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This paper examines how misinformation and selective information framing drove anti-EU sentiment in North Macedonia following the 2022 proposal of the EU negotiating framework (the “French Proposal”). Focusing on the 2020–2024 period, the study uses qualitative discourse analysis (70 analyzed templates) and quantitative digital data harvesting across platforms like Twitter/X, YouTube, and digital media outlets.
The primary finding highlights an unusual convergence between traditional pro-Russian nationalist actors (e.g., Levica, VMRO-DPMNE) and “unusual suspects”—historically pro-Western, EU- and USAID-funded NGOs, think tanks (such as EPI and IDSCS), and prominent public figures. Both groups leveraged tropes portraying the EU accession framework as a threat to Macedonian national identity (“Bulgarianization”) and framed the EU as duplicitous and unyielding. This narrative promoted euro-nihilism, advocating for frozen negotiations, “full sovereignty,” or regional alternatives like “Open Balkans”.
Quantitative tracking revealed heavily shared anti-framework content, peak usage of anti-EU/nationalist hashtags, and significant overlap with Serbian media narratives that facilitate indirect Russian influence. The study concludes that inadvertent anti-EU rhetoric from reputable, civil-society actors mainstreamed euro-skepticism, normalizing a state of stalled EU integration and geopolitical limbo in North Macedonia.

Foreign policy – a new field of populist politics. Case study of the “Eastern policy” of Slovakia after the 2023 national elections

Juraj Marušiak — Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The aim of this article is to analyze the impact of a populist style of governance on the foreign policy of the Slovak Republic following the 2023 parliamentary elections. In addition to changes at the discursive level, the article examines changes in political decision-making processes, changes at the institutional level, and changes in the substance of foreign policy. The article focuses on the policies of the Smer – Social Democracy (Smer-SD) party, which holds the decisive say in foreign policy. It focuses primarily on one aspect of this policy—the policy toward Russia and Ukraine—which is characterized by the greatest discontinuity compared to the period before 2023, and in which the influence of populism and de-Europeanization is most pronounced. In the concluding section, the author examines the opportunities and limitations of populist foreign policy within the context of existing domestic and external factors shaping Slovakia’s political development.

Shaping the narrative of (dis)information, a view from the Czech Republic

Michal Vit — Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This paper examines how narratives concerning Ukraine are constructed and adapted within the Czech public sphere through the interaction of media visibility, social capital, business interests, and access to political institutions. Rather than approaching disinformation exclusively as the dissemination of false content, the study focuses on the social and institutional environment in which narratives acquire legitimacy and political influence. It analyses the public discourse and professional networks of two prominent Czech entrepreneurs and philanthropists, Libor Winkler and Jan Barta, between 2014 and 2026. The research combines social network analysis with a qualitative examination of approximately 3,000 media outputs retrieved from the Newton Media Archive, comparing narrative developments before and after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The paper highlights the importance of examining the relationship between values-based communication, elite networks, and material interests when assessing how influential public narratives about Ukraine are produced and sustained.