The Serbian Educational Alliance brought a second delegation from the University of Belgrade’s Faculty of Political Science (FPN) to Ohio to observe the U.S. midterm elections this November. During the ten-day visit the Serbian delegation—five faculty members and two graduate students—explored Cleveland, visiting the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, the Serbian Cultural Garden, West Side Market, St. Theodosius Orthodox Church, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They also watched the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Boston Celtics in an exciting home game.

Drs. Milan Krstic and Nikola Jovic presented public opinion polling research from Serbia via Zoom at an event sponsored by SEA/CSEEES, the FPN, Northwestern University and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. The event titled, “East/West Divide and Demand for Democracy: Serbia at the Crossroads” was part of the “Council Conversations” series and Northwestern’s Russian, Eurasian, and Eastern European Studies Research Program’s “East Meets West” speaker series. Krstic and Jovic’s presentation was based on a follow-up study to a survey they conducted with Northwestern faculty Drs. Olga Kamenchuk and Erik Nisbet in 2020. The initial survey investigated public opinion regarding whether Serbs identify with the east (Russia) or the west (United States, United Kingdom, European Union) in a variety of facets. The 2020 webinar presented by Krstic, Jovic, Kamenchuk, and Nisbet can be viewed on our YouTube channel.

Dean Dragan Simic presented his new book to a full house at a “Mershon Monday” lecture on Ohio State’s campus. The book titled World Order: Policies of Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Delano Roosevelt explores a first-of-its-kind analysis and comparison of U.S. presidents Wilson and Roosevelt. Dean Simic gave an overview of the book, his analysis of Wilson and Roosevelt, and presented some intriguing parallels to classical artworks. The event concluded with responses from discussants Dr. Richard Herrmann and Dr. Jennifer Mitzen digging deeper into tactics and concepts used by Wilson and Roosevelt domestically and internationally, and their relationship to Serbia.

The Serbian students visited Ohio State classes and the Hilandar Research Library, attended the CSEEES graduate student lecture by PhD candidate Chris Kinley, and interacted with graduate students from the Department of Slavic and East European Languages and Cultures and CSEEES. The entire delegation participated in a Zoom call with the Wayne County Board of Elections, as well as several events at the Mershon Center for International Security Studies, including a post-election roundtable. Overall, the visiting faculty and students were able to experience both urban and rural county election procedures, observe live voting results, and discuss those results and the reactions they inspired with OSU political scientists.

The SEA team is planning to continue the alliance into 2023 with more collaborative research and exchange.