Contesting legitimacy through memory: Mimetic rivalry and Serbian elite discourse in the Kosovo–Serbia dispute

Abstract

This article examines whether, and in what ways, Serbian political elites have engaged in mimetic rivalry since 2022 by appropriating the symbolic and narrative repertoire historically associated with the Kosovo Albanian resistance. Drawing on the literatures on memory politics and mimetic rivalry, the study analyses two pivotal developments in Kosovo–Serbia relations: the coordinated withdrawal of Kosovo Serbs from Kosovo’s institutions in 2022 and the Banjska attack in 2023. Using a qualitative single-case study design and discourse-analytic approach, the article examines speeches, media outputs, symbolic acts, legal texts, and international reporting in order to trace how narratives of victimhood, civil disobedience, martyrdom, and defensive struggle were constructed and circulated. The article argues that these two crises are best understood not as isolated episodes, but as interconnected moments within a broader elite-driven strategy of narrative appropriation. More specifically, Serbian elites are shown to have selectively reproduced key elements of the Kosovo Albanian liberation narrative in order to recast Kosovo Serbs as a threatened community whose resistance is morally justified. The article contributes to the literature by showing how mimetic rivalry and elite-driven memory construction operate together as a mechanism of legitimacy contestation. It further argues that such symbolic competition can deepen antagonism, weaken normalization, and obstruct peacebuilding in the Kosovo–Serbia dispute.