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Letter of Support for the Serbian Student Movement

As scholars dedicated to the study of democracy, we are deeply concerned about the implications for Serbia’s future following the continued repression of the students’ movement emerging in the aftermath of the tragic Novi Sad railway station collapse. We condemn the brutal response by security forces against peaceful student protesters, call for the restoration of Serbian democracy, and demand full transparency regarding the corruption that led to the collapse of the canopy in the railway station of Novi Sad that killed 16 people.

The Serbian government under President Aleksandar Vučić has systematically eroded democratic institutions. Vučić and his party have created a virtual information monopoly. Elections have been marred by irregularities. Freedom House has reclassified Serbia from “partly free” to an “autocratizing hybrid” regime. Over the past months, protests have spread to over 400 cities and towns. Independent research shows that the majority of Serbian citizens support the students’ demands. 

The authoritarian turn in Serbia raises fundamental questions regarding its EU membership eligibility. UN experts have expressed deep concern over the government’s crackdown on students and citizens. Democracy in Serbia has been under siege for far too long. The international community must stand with the students, recognize their legitimate aspirations, and promote democratic renewal.

We call on the European Union to condition Serbia’s accession negotiations on tangible progress in safeguarding and upholding fundamental rights and values—most notably the rule of law, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, and the autonomy of universities—while ensuring accountability for those responsible for the recent violence. In addition, EU efforts should prioritize substantial improvements to Serbia’s electoral framework, in line with the recommendations issued by ODIHR, which are essential steps to restoring democratic standards in the country.

Alberto Díaz-Cayeros, Stanford University, USA

Beatriz Magaloni, Stanford University, USA

Kathryn Stoner, Stanford University, USA

Michael McFaul, Stanford University, USA

Francis Fukuyama, Stanford University, USA

Larry Diamond, Stanford University, USA

Adam Przeworski, New York University, USA

Steven Levitsky, Harvard University, USA

Herbert Kitschelt, Duke University, USA

Margaret Levi, Stanford University, USA

Staffan I Lindberg, V-Dem Institute University of Gothenburg, Sweden

Anna Grzymala-Busse, Stanford University, USA

Erik Jensen, Stanford University, USA

Btanislav Jakovljević, Stanford University, USA

Srđan Keča, Stanford University, USA

Pavle Levi, Stanford University, USA

Miriam Golden, Stanford University, USA

Carles Boix, Princeton University, USA

Stephan Haggard, University of California San Diego, USA

Scott Mainwaring, University of Notre Dame, USA

Andreas Schedler, CEU Democracy Institute, Hungary

Manuel Alcántara, Universidad de Salamanca, Spain

Martina Kaller, University of Vienna, Austria

Robert Kaufman, Rutgers the State University of New Jersey, USA

Marcelo Bergman, Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero, Argentina

Aníbal Pérez-Liñan, University of Notre Dame, USA

Jennifer McCoy, Georgia State University, USA

Rachel Kleinfeld, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, USA

Gabriela Ippolito-O’Donnell, Universidad Nacional de San Martín, Argentina

Susan Stokes, University of Chicago, USA 

Steven Fish, University of California, Berkeley, USA

Max Cameron, The University of British Columbia, Canada

Jean-Paul Faguet, London School of Economics, UK

Cristina Cucurí, Independent Researcher, Ecuador

Hesham Sallam, Stanford University, USA

David Palumbo-Liu, Stanford University, USA

Mary-Therese Heintzkill, Stanford University, USA

Hanna Folsz, Stanford University, Hungary

Jovana Lazic, Stanford University, USA

María Ignacia Curiel, Stanford University, USA

Dominick Lawton, Stanford University, USA

José Antonio Aguilar Rivera, Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económica (CIDE), México

Amanda Edgell, The University of Alabama, USA

Kelly Morrison, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA

Sokol Lleshi, University of New York Tirana, Albania

Lars Lott, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany

Dmytro Potekhin, Factology.Systems, Ukraine/Estonia

Milena Marinkovic, United States

Fernanda Somuano, El Colegio de México, Mexico

Nicole Burgund, University of Novi Sad, Serbia

Edin Mujkic, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, United States

Stephen Parks, University of Virginia, USA

Ilinca Ilian, West University of Timisoara, Romania

Dejan Pavlović, Fakulty of Political Science University of Belgrade, Serbia

Emilija Markovic, Faculty for Teacher’s Training Leposavic, Serbia

John Gould, Colorado College, USA

Manuel Ortiz Escamez, Social Focus, USA

Alexander De Juan, Osnabrück University, Germany

Dina Vozab, University of Zagreb, Croatia

Kristóf Gosztonyi, Osnabrück University, Germany

Zoran Jovanović, Faculty of Electronic Engineering, Serbia

Zdravko Kobe, Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia

Suleyman Aslami, City Council of Amsterdam, Netherlands

Danijela Petrovic Graovac, University if Novi Sad, Serbia

Vlad Mykhnenko, University of Oxford, UK

Husnija Kamberovic, Univerzitet u Sarajevu, Filozofski fakultet, Bosna i Hercegovina

Marian Zulean, University of Bucharest, Romania

Tomislav Pletenac, University of Zagreb, Croatia

Milica Vujičić, University of Gothenburg, Sweden

V.P. (Chip) Gagnon Jr, Ithaca College, USA

Barbara Grüning, Università Milano-Bicocca, Italy

Claudiu Tufiș, University of Bucharest, Romania

Dimitrije Stamenovic, Boston University, USA

Boban Arsenijević, University of Graz, Austria

Jelena Stojković , University of Graz; Leipzig University, Austria; Germany

Claudio Ricci, University of Geneva, Switzerland

Jelena Ignjatovic, Faculty of Sciences and Mathematics, University of Nis, Serbia

Grzegorz Mazurkiewicz, Jagiellonian University, Poland

Athanasios Markopoulos, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece

Andrés Escala, Universidad de Chile, Chile

Jacopo Fritz, IRyA-UNAM, Mexico

Milena Ilisevic, Western Sydney University, Australia

Vladimir Bubalo, Medical University of Graz, Austria

Djordje Popovic, UC Berkeley, US

Salman Matan, Ohio State University , USA

Ainsley Morse, UC-San Diego, USA

Owen Kohl, Grinnell College, USA

Cammeron Girvin, PhD, University of California, Berkeley, USA

Wayles Browne, retired from Cornell University, U.S.

Iva Kosmos, University of Zagreb, Croatia

Nataša Kovačević, Eastern Michigan University, USA

Tanja Softić, University of Richmond, USA

Dubravka Sekulić, Royal College of Art, London, UK

Jonathan Hartlyn, UNC-Chapel Hill, USA

Brian Arnold, Independent researcher, USA

Dana McKelvey, Central European University, Austria

Irena Pastar, University of Miami, USA

Tamara Pantić, Georgetown University Law Center, USA

Gary Shapiro, University of Richmond, USA

Vladimir Bejdo, University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, USA

Stanislava Kostić, Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu, Poland

Benjamin Kapelke, UC Berkeley, USA

Vladimir Paskaljevic, York University, Canada

Nicholas Tripcevich, University of California, Berkeley, USA

Nela Milic, Buckinghamshire New University, UK

Miljana Radivojević, UCL Institute of Archaeology, UK

Aleksandra Sznajder Lee, University of Richmond, USA

Vera GaNun, Clarivate, USA

Mariela Mendez, University of Richmond, USA

Julio César Chavelas, Universidad Autónoma de Guerrero, México

Elisabeth Gruner, University of Richmond, USA

Katia Dianina, University of Virginia, USA

Olja Triaska Stefanovic, Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Slovakia

Sandra Davidovic, City University of New York, Serbia

Ana Antic, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Petr Stehlík, Masaryk University, Czech Republic

Jana Bacevic, Durham University, UK

Margaret Beissinger, Princeton University, USA

Mirna Stehlíková Đurasek, Masaryk University, Czechia

Hernán Flom, Trinity College, USA

Alex Otieno, Arcadia University, USA

Raul Algarin Villalba, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain

Tijana Vujosevic, University of British Columbia, Canada

Nikola Ilic, Georgetown University, USA

Selma Đulizarević Karanović, Faculty of Applied Ars, University of Ars, Belgrade, Serbia

Lazar Džamić, Goldsmiths, UK

Elena Messner, University of Vienna, Austria

Goran Lazičić, University of Graz, Austria

Angelina Ilieva, University of Chicago, USA

Stefan Milosavljević, University of Graz, Austria

Houman Harouni, Harvard University, USA

Igor Tchoukarine, University of Minnesota, USA

Axelle Bagot, Brown University, USA

Tijana Petrović, UC Berkeley, USA

Juan Masullo, University of Milan and Leiden University, Italy and Netherlands

Elaine Papoulias, Harvard University, USA

Sergio Espuelas, University of Barcelona, Spain

Dragana Obradović, University of Toronto, Canada

Maja E White, University of Richmond, USA

Zoran Todorović, University of the Arts, Faculty of Fine Arts Belgrade, RS

Martina Vukasovi, Department of Government, University of Berger, Norway

Vessna Perunovich, OCAD University Toronto, Canada

Svetlana Radovanov, Beam Physics and Plasma Applications LLC, USA

Sheyla Moroni, University of Florence, Italy

Maarten Baes, Universiteit Gent, Belgium

Lilian Tintori, World Liberty Congress, Spain

Dino Kadich, University of Cambridge, UK

Santiago González-Gaitán, Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon, Portugal

Jodi Vittori, Georgetown University, USA

Djordje Djurica, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Austria

Timothy Dobe, Grinnell College, USA

Milica Popović, Institute of Culture Studies, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Austria

Joseph H. Lowther, USA

Emily Mellen, University of Virginia, USA

Ahryanna McGuirk, University of Virginia & Democratic Futures Project, USA

Virginia Bonnie, University of Virginia , US

Shaazka Beyerle, USA

Marija Bradaš, Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Italy

Paul Fine, University of California, Berkeley, USA

Miroslav Filipovic, Western Sydney University, Australia

Corinne Sweeney, University of Virginia, USA