Contribution by Anastas Vangeli, Ana Bojinović Fenko, and Faris Kočan in the Journal of Contemporary European Studies

Anastas Vangeli, Ana Bojinović Fenko, and Faris Kočan published an article titled “Doomscrollers by day, gamers by night: patching digital sovereignty in the Western Balkan states amid US-China technological rivalry” in the "Journal of Contemporary European Studies".

The article addresses digital sovereignty in the Western Balkans in the context of the growing technological rivalry between the United States and China, as well as the region's process of EU accession.

The findings indicate that Western Balkan states behave opportunistically and strategically in the context of great-power competition; while some countries (Albania, North Macedonia, Kosovo) follow U.S. pressure to limit Chinese technologies, others (Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina) maintain pragmatic cooperation with Chinese tech companies.

The article is openly accessible here: https://doi.org/10.1080/14782804.2025.2578698