Literatur als Soft Power? Russlands Diskursmacht in Serbien und Montenegro
Literature as a Soft Power? Russia’s Discursive Power in Serbia and Montenegro

Summary/Abstract: Russia’s soft power in Southeastern Europe is a highly influential factor that should not be underestimated, especially when it comes to hard interests. Literature has always been an essential part of its soft power, which is not unilaterally motivated, but rather the effect of a mutual communication process. Thus, it does not only influence the public opinion through cultural attractiveness but serves the regime for calibration, legitimation and controlling the discourses of friendship and enmity. Using the example of the Western Balkan states of Serbia and Montenegro, which have always shared an affinity for Russia but have also turned towards the EU, we will outline how literature, under politically changed circumstances, on the one hand propagandistically continues its consolidated status as a soft power, and on the other hand shows signs of subversiveness through ignorance. Both can be seen as symptoms of the current crisis of orientation.

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