Keele Research Repository

Policing in Yugoslavia and in Serbia historically exhibits a greater affinity towards the maintenance of a particular socio-political order than it has the rule of law. This article argues against common held international contentions that the police in Serbia is resistant to reform. By reviewing the police force’s history, a tendency towards constant reform reveals itself. Yet, despite the constant change, policing is persistently politically dependent and in rivalry with the military. This history of policing in the Balkans was evidently not taken into account by international organizations frustrated by the unwillingness of the Serb police to wholly adapt the liberal formula on offer. The pace and direction of police reform in this context appears closely tied to wider structural reforms of the socio-political order.