Please join the Fletcher Eurasia Club for a conversation about the evolution of political dynamics across Montenegro and Serbia with two experts on the Western Balkans, Ambassador Vesko Garčević and Kenneth Morrison. They will discuss their new book, Montenegro and Serbia: A Velvet Divorce? (2025), reflecting on how Trump’s return may reshape the Western Balkans’ contemporary political landscape. 

Why have Montenegro and Serbia taken divergent paths following the dissolution of Yugoslavia? Why has Montenegro recognized Kosovo’s independence despite strong Serbian opposition? Why have the two countries taken different stances on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, NATO membership, and cooperation with China? What is the role of the Serbian Orthodox Church and religious-political dynamics in the region? The two authors will focus on the Montenegro-Serbia bilateral relationship and the roles of China, Russia, NATO, and the EU in forming the Western Balkans’ contemporary political landscape. Robin Brooks, State Department Fellow at Fletcher, will serve as a discussant.

The Eurasia Club lunch seminar series engages with students, faculty, staff, and researchers to foster a better understanding of the region among members of the Fletcher and wider Tufts communities. Please register via the following Microsoft Form to attend the event in person or let us know if you would like to attend virtually. Please contact us with any questions you might have about the event or if you would like to submit discussion questions for the speaker in advance. Lunch will be served following the conversation. Please let us know if you have any dietary restrictions, and we will do our best to accommodate you.   

Vesko Garčević is Professor of the Practice of International Relations and Interim Director, Center for the Study of Europe at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University. He served as the Ambassador of Montenegro in Brussels (NATO) and Vienna (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe – OSCE and other International Organizations). He was a Montenegrin Ambassador to Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. During his diplomatic career, he held important positions at the challenging political time of the dissolution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and democratic transition of Montenegro. After Montenegro regained independence in 2006, he served as the first Montenegrin Ambassador to Austria and the OSCE. He has outstanding knowledge of multilateral issues, especially in the field of European Security. His areas of expertise include multilateral diplomacy, European security, EU enlargement and NATO open door policy, democratic transition in Eastern and South-East Europe, the Western Balkans, and diplomacy of small states in global affairs.

Kenneth Morrison is a Professor of History and Director of the Institute of Global Challenges and Cultures at De Montfort University, UK. He is a specialist on the modern political history of the Western Balkans and is the author of six monographs on the region. He was a Research Associate and Visiting Professor at the European Institute at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). He has worked closely with UK government departments such as the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the Ministry of Defense. He was the Specialist Adviser for the House of Lords International Relations Committee for their ‘UK and the Western Balkans’ inquiry. An established specialist on the Western Balkans, he is the author of several books focusing on the modern history of the region. He has also written extensively for media internationally and in the Western Balkans, and for numerous think-tanks in the region.

Robin S. Brooks, Ph.D., is the current State Department Fellow at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and former Special Advisor to Vice President Kamala Harris for Europe, Eurasia, Multilateral Affairs, and Democracy. She was previously the Director for Central Europe and the Balkans at the National Security Council. Her prior assignments as a Foreign Service Officer with the State Department have included Director of the Office for Multilateral Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs, Deputy Political Counselor at the U.S. embassies in Serbia and Bulgaria, Chief of Staff to the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, and positions at the U.S. embassies in Russia, Turkey, and the U.S. Mission to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Brooks holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley, and as the State Department’s Davis Fellow has served as adjunct faculty at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.