Vicarious denial: war crimes and online deliberation in Serbia for and against Ukraine

Kostovicova, Denisa ORCID: 0000-0002-6243-4379 and La Lova, Lanabi ORCID: 0000-0002-1918-5258 (2025) Vicarious denial: war crimes and online deliberation in Serbia for and against Ukraine. East European Politics. ISSN 2159-9165 (In Press)

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Abstract

Violence in distant conflicts can foster solidarity across borders, mediated by partisanship, identities, and ideology. But, attitudes towards a society’s own war legacies may also shape reactions to war crimes endured by others. We analyse Serbian news outlet readers’ comments responding to reports of Russia’s atrocities in Ukraine. We observe vicarious denial, as some readers denied Russian atrocities, evoking a sense of exclusive Serbian victimhood related to the Yugoslav wars and blame of the West. Yet, other readers challenged them, expressing solidarity with Ukrainian victims. Our research highlights transnational dynamics of war crimes denial and its contention, complementing domestically oriented explanations.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2025 The Author(s)
Divisions:	European Institute
Subjects:	J Political Science K Law J Political Science > JZ International relations
Date Deposited:	02 Sep 2025 14:27
Last Modified:	03 Sep 2025 13:24
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/129362

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