The Central and East European International Studies Association (CEEISA) and the Central and Eastern European Perspectives on International Relations (CEEPIR) book series are delighted to announce Tijana Rečević Krstić as the winner of the 2026 CEEISA–CEEPIR Best Dissertation Award.
Her dissertation, The Role of Public in Foreign and Security Policy: The Relationship Between Policymakers and Public Opinion from a Constructivist Perspective, examines how public opinion shapes foreign and security policy in Serbia. It develops an original constructivist account of the relationship between policymakers and the public, centred on the concepts of socially constructed “common sense” and the varying “stickiness” of foreign-policy orientations.
The assessment committee highlighted the dissertation’s ambitious theoretical scope, originality and substantial empirical foundation. In particular, the committee praised its effort to connect foreign policy analysis, constructivism and ontological security studies, as well as its contribution to understanding the public–elite relationship in foreign and security policy.
The dissertation draws on an extensive mixed-method research design, combining interviews, discourse and policy-document analysis, and original survey research. Through a comparative examination of Serbia’s cooperation with the European Union, NATO and Russia, and its policy of military neutrality, it contributes both to scholarship on Serbia and Central and Eastern Europe and to broader debates in International Relations.
Presently, Dr. Tijana Rečević Krstić is Assistant Professor of International Security at Faculty of Political Science at the University of Belgrade. She received her PhD in Political Sciences, with specialization in International and European Studies, from the University of Belgrade in 2025. Previously, she studied at the London School of Economics and Political Science and at the University of Belgrade.
The award includes a £250 Palgrave Macmillan book voucher and an invitation to submit a dissertation- based monograph to the CEEPIR series. The prize will be formally presented at an award ceremony in autumn 2026.
We also extend our sincere thanks to the Hana Kubátová, Raluca Moldovan and Annette Freyberg-Inan, members of the Award Committee, for their service.