Covid-19, State-Power and Society in Europe

Neven Andjelic teaches international politics, International Relations and Human Rights at Regent's University London. He served on the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities - Council of Europe from 2014 to 2018. Neven is also Visiting Professor at the University of Bologna and is giving visiting lectures and talks at the Europa-Institut of the Saarland University. He was a Visiting Senior Fellow at LSE and a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the University of California at Berkeley. Neven gave talks at Columbia and Stanford universities, Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington DC, Miles and Birmingham South colleges in Alabama, the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and the University of California at Berkeley. His previous affiliations include Birkbeck College, Open University, Sussex, Kent, Sarajevo, Webster University, and Queen's University Canada (International Studies Center in the UK). His broad interests andlife circumstances made him a multidisciplinary academic. Neven graduated in Law from the University of Sarajevo.

• Introduction.- State of the Play.- Western Balkans: State, Society and Coronacracy.- Geopolitics and Regimes in Europe: Focus on Western Balkans.- Crisis of Liberal Democracy.- Populism and Securitisation of Minorities .- Conclusion.

“Andjelic’s book offers a valuable insight into the pre-pandemic democratic performance of numerous European countries, including the Western Balkans. However, the distinction between popular public perceptions conveyed by the media and political studies analysis warrants further academic exploration. While area studies, as demonstrated in this book, can enhance our understanding of global democratisation challenges, a more global perspective would undoubtedly enrich the comparative analysis that Andjelic’s book aims to achieve.” (Nina Markovic, Europe-Asia Studies, November 11, 2024)“The volume does a great job in dissecting democratic backsliding processes during the pandemic amidst the global rise of populism. … the book is well written and deserves much praise for highlighting the complex relationships between state power and society across the familiar Western European context as well as in the less-studied countries of the Western Balkans. In all, Andjelic’s account represents a valuable addition to the field of comparative democratization studies.” (Ion Marandici, Comparative Southeast European Studies, Vol. 70 (4), 2022)