Managing the “Refugee Crisis” along the Balkan Route: Field Notes from Serbia

This chapter reflects on the management of the “refugee crisis” along the Balkan Route on the part of the Serbian authorities by highlighting how, with the exception of the dramatic months of the second part of 2015, when over 800,000 refugees crossed with largely no opposition the entire region to reach the rest of Europe, the presence of refugees in Serbia and their related mobility has been somehow normalized. Serbia has been long prepared to provide humanitarian support to the refugees using the informal Balkan Route, since their presence is not considered contingent but rather constitutive of the mutated European geographies of irregular migrations. The “refugee crisis” also has put Serbia under a positive light internationally thanks to the relatively unconditional humanitarian support that guides its policy toward these families and individuals on the move. While this may place Serbia in a stronger position when negotiating its relationship with the European Union, the chapter also argues that the permanent presence of the refugees and related hospitality camps is important for the impact that they have on some local economies but also for the streams of funding coming from the rest of Europe. The chapter thus problematizes the idea of a permanent “refugee crisis” along the Balkan Route, and in Serbia in particular, and at the same time emphasizes how the role of Serbia in the new European geographies of humanitarian management of displaced people is increasingly important for its integration into the broader economic and political geographies of the continent.