Personal profile
  Historian, political scientist, and interdisciplinary social theorist specializing in Central and Eastern European studies. Faculty staff member with largest number of publications at NKU (11 articles in 2018 alone). Over a decade of international academic experience across Asia, Europe, and the US. Prolific author with 50+ peer-reviewed publications in the fields of history, political science, international relations, sociolinguistics, political sociology, media studies, social theory, and theology. Research foci include theoretical work, narrative, media discourse, identity politics, nationalism, and operational code analysis, including international relations and religion. Fluent in four languages, with demonstrated excellence in teaching, curriculum development, and cross-cultural academic collaboration.

Academic positions
Associate Professor, College of History, Nankai University, Tianjin, China （Oct 2018 – Present）
Researcher, Polish Institute of Advanced Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland （Mar 2018 – Jul 2018）
Visiting Researcher, Department for Communication and Media, Lund University, Sweden （Jun 2016 – Jun 2019）
Visiting Lecturer, Department of Political Science, Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA （Sep 2016 – Dec 2017）
Visiting Researcher / Lecturer, Istanbul Şehir University, Istanbul, Turkey (TUBITAK grant) （Jul 2015 – Jul 2016）
Researcher, New Europe College, Bucharest, Romania （Mar 2015 – Jul 2015）
Visiting Researcher / Lecturer, Faculty of Social Studies, University in Košice, Slovakia （Sep 2012 – Jan 2014）
Lecturer, Department of History, Faculty of Philosophy, Palacký University Olomouc, Czech Republic （2009 – 2012）
Junior Researcher, Center for Central and Eastern Europe, University of Bologna, Faenza, Italy （2010 – 2012）
Visiting Lecturer, Department of European Studies and Political Science, Palacký University Olomouc, Czech Republic （2013）
Tutor (Academic Writing), International Summer School, University of Bologna, Cervia, Italy （2010）

RESEARCH INTERESTS
  Regional focus：Central and Eastern Europe, Western Balkans (Serbia, former Yugoslavia states)
  Thematic research：
  Nationalism and identity politics
  Media and political discourse; narrative studies
  Social and political theory
  International relations; religion and politics
  Collective memory, digital memory wars
  Populism, state theory, everyday statism
  Linguistic nationalism and sociolinguistics
  Methodologies：
  Discourse & narrative analysis
  Operational Code Analysis (OPCODE)
  Content analysis, sentiment analysis
  Historical‑theoretical framework building

Articles:
Peer reviewed:
Jovanović, S. M. (2026). “Stability without adaptation: autopoietic closure in Serbia under Aleksandar Vučić”, Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe, 1-25.
Jovanović, S. M. (2026). “A comparative critical discourse analysis of president Vladimir Putin’s inaugural addresses (2000-2024)”, Intersections: East European Journal of Society and Politics, vol 11(4).
Jovanović, S. M., V. Stančetić, and M. Mijatović. (2026). “Party system nationalization and local electoral competition: evidence from the 2025 Croatian local elections”, European Politics and Society, 1-13.
Jovanović, S. M. (2026). “Toward an omission studies framework in historical research: defining, detecting and deploying absence as analytical evidence”, European Review of History: Revue européenne d'histoire.
Jovanović, S. M. (2026). “Reforming the children, absolving the state: disciplinary discourse and depoliticized crisis management in Serbian PM Đuro Macut’s 2025 exposé”, Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe, 1- 19.
Jovanović, S. M. (2026). “Banal statism: toward a theory of the normalized state in everyday life”, Theory and Society 55 (2), 19.
Jovanović, S. M. (2026). ”Historical consciousness and collective memory in M. Edith Durham’s twenty years of Balkan Tangle: a travel writing perspective”, National Identities, 1-10.
Jovanović, S. M. (2026). ” The banality of blame: selective condemnation and the normalisation of anti-Israel discourse by DiEM25”, Israel Affairs, 1-19.
Jovanović, S. M. (2026). “The European Political Community and EU enlargement policy: Strategic evasion, internal crises, and the case of Serbia”, Medjunarodni problemi, 78 (1), 69-113.
Jovanović, S. M. (2026). “Digital Memory Wars: A Case Study of Kosovo’s Independence on Wikipedia’s Serbian and Albanian Entries”. Media i Społeczeństwo 22 (1-2).
Jovanović, S. M. (2026). “Springtime as Revelation: Eco-Mysticism and Sacred Ecology in Slovo ljubve by Despot Stefan Lazarević”, Medieval Mystical Theology, 1-16.
Jovanović, S. M. (2026). “Embroidering eternity: Jefimija as a proto-theologian in the Hesychast context of medieval Serbia”, Literature & Theology.
Jovanović, S. M. (2026). “Digital Memory Wars: Wikipedia as a battleground for conflicting narratives on Croatia’s ‘Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day’”, National Identities
Jovanović, S. M. (2026). ”Multiculturalism as a Veiled Vehicle for Global Right‐Wing Ideologies: A Theoretical Reframing”, World Affairs 189 (1), e270056
Jovanović, S. M. (2026). “The Bottom Of The Well: Urban Memory, Imperial Echoes, And The Microgeography Of Fear In Prewar Belgrade”, Istoriya-History, 34,
Jovanović, S. M. (2025). ”Diplomacy, Sovereignty, and Realism: Serbia’s Geopolitical Balancing Act in Vučić’s 2023 UN Speech”, Politička misao: časopis za politologiju 62 (2), 107-127.
Jovanović, S. M. (2025). “Antemurale Christianitatis as a Realist Strategy: Serbia, Poland, and Croatia in the Ottoman Frontier”, Annales UMCS, Sectio K (Politologia) 32 (2).
Jovanović, S. M. (2025). ”The Semiotics Of Unity: Symbolism In The Alba Iulia Resolution Of 1918 And Its Political Meanings.”, Romanian Review of Political Sciences & International Relations 22 (2).
Jovanović, S. M. (2025). ” Spectators of a Phantom democracy: Vučić’s Serbia through the lens of Walter Lippmann’s The Phantom public”. Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe, 1-25.
Jovanović, S. M. (2025). “Constructing Crisis, Coloring Vojvodina: Aleksandar Vučić’s Rhetorical Shift from Kosovo to Vojvodina and Colored Revolutions in His March 2025 Speech”. Nationalism and Ethnic Politics 32(3).
Jovanović, S. M. (2025), “Between Empires, Among Believers: A Microhistorical and Borderland Analysis of Benedikt Kuripešić’s 1530 Travel Diary”. Journal of Balkan Studies 5 (2), 213-239.
Jovanović, S. M. (2025). “Memory and Religious Identity in Ivan IV’s Letters: Constructing Orthodox Kingship in Diplomatic Correspondence”, Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe 45 (1), 7.
Jovanović, S. M. (2025). ' Zakonik Danila Prvog' and Religious Identity: Orthodox Christianity in Montenegrin Legal Thought, Balkanistic Worlds 1 (1), 48-68.
Jovanović, S. M. (2024). ”Kosovo and securitization in the Serbian Orthodox Church's operational code”. Religion as Securitization in Central and Eastern Europe, 179-191.
Jovanović, S. M. (2023). “Putin’s Declaration of War: Discourse, Narrative, Propaganda”, Annales Sciencia Politica, vol. 21 (1), pp. 18-28.
Jovanović, S. M. (2023). 'The Relationship Between Serbia and Russia in the Post-Yugoslav Era: Political, Economic and Security Dimensions', Studia Środkowoeuropejskie i Bałkanistyczne, vol. 32, 227-246.
Jovanović, S. M. (2023). The Cabot Patent Letters, Heathens, and Infidels: A MultiDimensional Analysis, Studia historica Tyrnaviensia (Dejiny v pohybe – pohyb v dejinách), Vol. 2, 44-69.
Jovanović, S. M. (2023). The Evolution of Serbian Foreign Policy under Vučić: Navigating between the European Union and Russia. Perspective Politice. Vol. XVI (1-2), 106-123.
Ohle, Maximillian, Cook, Richard J,
Jovanović, S M, and Han, Zhaoying. (2021). „Russia’s Architecture of Hegemony: Christian Orthodox Subordination Strategies in Russia’s Peripheral Zone“, Europe-Asia Studies.
Jovanović, S. M. (2021). “The portal ‘Nationalist’ as the nutshell of recent Serbian nationalism”, National Identities, vol. 23 (2), pp. 149-162.
Jovanović, S. M. (2021). Discursive Historical Continuities: Serbian Nationalist Discourse in the Printed Media on the Brink of the First Balkan War (1912) in Comparison with Today, Plural, vol. 10(1), pp. 48-65.
Jovanović, S. M. (2020). “The Warmongering ’First Serbian Daily’: The Daily ’Politika’ during the First Balkan War of 1912-13”, Zgodovinski časopis / Historical Review, vol 74 (3-4), pp. 426-475.
Jovanović, S. M. (2020). Male homosexuality and homophobia in contemporary Slovakia: A qualitative inquiry into personal online narratives, Journal of Gender and Power, 13 (1), pp. 99-113.
Jovanović, S. M. (2020). “Militant Orthodox Fringe: Programs of Early 21st Century Serbian Right Wing Organizations”, Security Dialogues, vol. 1(2020), pp. 85-98.
Jovanović, S. M. (2020). ”Discursive Governance: Erdogan’s Populist Discourse as a Mode of Power Preservation”, The Copernicus Journal of Political Studies, no. 1(2020), pp. 101-120.
Jovanović, S. M. (2020). “Practical Political Hematology: Operational Code Analysis from a Non-Idealist Perspective on the case of Slobodan Milošević (1989-2001)”, Studia Politica – Romanian Political Science Review, vol XX (4), pp. 569-587.
Jovanović, S. M. (2020). “A New Political Scarecrow? The Political Program and Activity of the ‘Serbian Right’“, Suvremene Teme, vol. 11(1), pp. 11-26.
Jovanović, S. M. (2020). “Confronting Recent History: Forced Mobilization in Serbia during the War in Croatia 1991- 1995”, Balcanica Posnanensia, vol. 27, pp. 167-180.
Jovanović, S. M. (2020). The “Šreter” Prizes: Tackling Contemporary Croatian Linguistic Purism (1993–2018), Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 53 (3).
Jovanović, S. M. (2019). “Balm for the Soul”: Serbian Political Satire as a Critical Hub for Citizens. Mediální studia / Media studies: Journal for Critical Media Inquiry, 13 (1), pp. 28–44.
Jovanović, S. M. (2019). “The Code of the Hourglass: An Operational Code Analysis of the Anti-Homophobic Textual Production in the Serbian Opposition Portal Peščanik in Relation to Gay Pride Parades”, New Balkan Politics, 18.
Jovanović, S. M. and Cook, R. (2019). “The Operational Code Analysis of the Serbian Orthodox Church’s Official Political Discourse on Kosovo (2008-2019)”, South East European Review, vol. 14(1), pp. 250-270.
Jovanović, S. M. (2019). “Rebuilding Fortress Europe, Building Fortress USA: From Discursive to Physical Boundaries against Refugees on a Global Level”. East European Journal of Regional Studies, 5 (1), pp. 19-39.
Cook, R., Han, Z., Ohle, M., and Jovanović, S. M. (2019). „Bridging the Theorist-Practitioner Gap in IR: What are the Risks and Benefits?“, The Korean Journal of International Studies, 17(2), pp. 103-131.
Jovanović, S. M. (2019). “Fractured Discursivity: Xenophobia and Nationalism in Serbia in Relation to the European Union (2012-2016)”, Journal of Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe 27 (2-3), pp.1-17.
Cook, R., and Jovanović, S. M. (2019). “The Emu strikes back: An Inquiry into Australia’s Peculiar Military Action of 1932”, Romanian Journal of Historical Studies, vol. 2 (1), pp. 1-11.
Jovanović, S. M. (2018). “Antemurale Heterosexis: Securitization in Croatia via Contemporary Online Homophobia in the Case of the Portal ‘Narod’”, Balkan Social Science Review, vol. 11, no. 11, pp. 81-94.
Jovanović, S.M. (2018). “Laughter as Resistance: The Rise of Political Satire in Croatia and Serbia”, Političke perspective, 6(3), pp. 33-48.Jovanović, S. M. (2018).
“’Too much salt’: Czech Swedes, Journalism and (Anti)Xenophobic Discourse, Individual and Society”, Man and Society, Vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 47-61.
Jovanović, S. M. (2018). “Confronting recent history: Serbia’s ‘fateful eight’ and a decade of Kosovo’s independence in the Serbian Media (2008–2018)”, Adeptus. Journal of the Humanities (Polish Academy of Sciences), vol. 12, pp. 1- 16. ERIH
Jovanović, S. M. (2018). “The Woman and the World – Women’s Magazines in Interwar Serbia and Croatia (1925- 1941)”, Social Communication, vol. 2, pp. 70-78.
Jovanović, S. M. (2018). “’You’re Simply the Best’: Communicating Power and Victimhood in Support of President Aleksandar Vučić in the Serbian Dailies Alo! and Informer”, Journal of Media Research, vol. 11, issue 2(31), pp. 22- 42.
Jovanović, S. M. (2018). “The Dveri Movement through a Discursive Lens: Serbia’s Contemporary Right Wing Nationalism”, Südosteuropa. Journal of Politics and Society, Leibnitz Institut für Ost- und Südosteuropaforschung, vol. 66, no. 4, pp. 481-502.
Jovanović, S. M., and Đidić, A. (2018). “How Carl Schmitt and the Copenhagen School are still relevant for understanding Turkey: the presidential system explained through a security narrative”, Politicke Vedy / Political studies, vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 8-25.
Jovanović, S. M. (2018). “The Discursive Creation of the Montenegrin Language”, Acta Universitatis Sapientiae: European and Regional Studies, vol. 13, pp. 67-86.
Jovanović, S. M. (2018). “Assertive Discourse and Folk Linguistics: Serbian Nationalist Discourse about the Cyrillic Script in the 21st century”, Language and Policy, 17(4), pp. 611-631.
Jovanović, S. M. (2018). “The Misuse of Language: Serbo-Croatian, ‘Czechoslovakian’, and the Breakup of States”, East European Quarterly, vol 45, no 3-4 (CEU Budapest).
Jovanović, S. M. (2017). “‘I Refuse to Sink’: Narratives of the Dispossessed within Refugee Stories on the Balkan Route”, Cultural Studies-Critical Methodologies, 1-8 (Sage).
Jovanović, S. M. (2017). “The Ottoman Empire as Friend and Foe: Perceptions of Ottoman Rule in Serbia and Bosnia and Thereupon Based Nationalisms”, Review of Social Studies, Vol4. No1.
Jovanović, S. M. (2015). “Discourses of Exclusion: Xenophobic Language in Contemporary Serbia”, Romanoslavica, Vol. LI, nr. 4, University of Bucharest.
Jovanović, S. M. (2014). “Failures in Western Conflict Prevention in Former Yugoslavia: An Exception to the Rule or its Confirmation?”, Savremena politika i upravljanje, 2(1) 2014.
Jovanović, S. M. (2014). “Contribution to the Study of Accentual Quality and Quantity of the Serbian Version of the Polycentric Serbo-Croatian Language”, Slavia. Časopis pro slovanskou filologii’, 83(2), Prague.
Jovanović, S. M. (2013). “Dobro upravljanje: Cui bono? Elite, politike, nasilje i raspad Jugoslavije”. Savremena politika i upravljanje, 1(1) 2013.
Jovanović, S. M. (2012). “Employment in Serbia: a few Examples of Extreme Nepotism”, Lidske zdroje a spoločnost’,
Journal of the University of Košice, Faculty of Public Administration, Slovakia.
Jovanović, S. M. (2011). “The influence of Evolutionary Psychology on Social Sciences and Humanities”, The International Journal of the Humanities, vol. 9, issue 7.
Jovanović, S. M. (2010). “Cultural and Perception Problems in Serbia’s EU Integration: A Memetics View”, European Studies, vol 2 no. 2.
Jovanović, S. M. (2009). “Придонес кон разбирањето на концептите на националност и државјанство во
денешна Eвропа”, Evrodijalog, issue 11, Skopje [A contribution to the understanding of the concepts of nationality and citizenship in today’s Europe].
Jovanović, S. M. (2009). “Pseudoliberalni diskurs i otpor национализму: analiza diskursa Stefa Jansena o otporu национализму u bivšoj Jugoslaviji”, Philological studies, vol 1, Ljubljana/Zagreb/Skopje/Perm [Pseudo-liberalism and the opposition to nationalism: analysis of Stef Jansen’s discourse about the opposition to nationalism in former Yugoslavia]

Books:
Jovanović, S. M. (2017). The Creation and Breakup of Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia: Developing Polypeitharchic History, Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, Belgrade.
Jovanović, S. M. (2013). Smrt nacije. Mali manifest slobode. Krug [Death of the Nation: A Small Freedom Manifesto].
Jovanović, S. M. (2012). Retrolingvistika: istraživanje lingvističkog atavizma u Srbiji. Krug / Helsinki Committee for Human rights. [Retrolinguistics: exploring linguistic atavism in Serbia].
Jovanović, S. M. (2011). Religija. Savremena egzegeza: Filozofsko‑naučni traktat. Krug / Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, Belgrade. [Religion. A contemporary exegesis: a philosophical/scientific treatise].
Jovanović, S. M., Stančetić, V. (Eds.) (2014). History and Politics in the Western Balkans: Changes at the Turn of the Millennium, Center for Good Governance Studies, Belgrade.
Jovanović, S. M. (Ed.) (2011). Citizenship, Inclusion or Exclusion?, IDPress, Oxfordshire.
Jovanović, S. M. (Forthcoming). Serbia in the Vučić Era: Theorizing the Architecture of Governance, CEU Press.

Edited volumes:
Jovanović, S. M., Stančetić, V. (Eds.) (2014). History and Politics in the Western Balkans: Changes at the Turn of the Millennium, Center for Good Governance Studies, Belgrade.
Jovanović, S. M. (Ed.) (2011). Citizenship, Inclusion or Exclusion?, IDPress, Oxfordshire.

Working papers:
Jovanović, S. M. (2013). Serbia’s Road to the EU: History, Mentality and Philosophy, CGGS Working Papers, Center for Good Governance Studies, Belgrade.
Jovanović, S. M. (2013). Serbia and Pre-independent Kosovo: A Look Back into 2008, CGGS Working Papers, Center for Good Governance Studies, Belgrade.

Grants:

  Nankai University Grant for Foreign Faculty Staff
  Polish Institute of Advanced Study fellowship
  Swedish Institute Fellowship for the Western Balkans (2016)
  TUBITAK Research Fellowship, 2015/16 (Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey)
  New Europe College Research Fellowship, 2015
  Swedish Institute scholarship, Ålsta Folkhögskola, Fränsta, Sweden, 2004
  Slovak Academic Information Agency Research Grant, 2012
  Slovak Academic Information Agency Research Grant, 2013
  REVACERN grant, European Commission/University of Szeged, 2009 (Religions and Values: Central And Eastern European Research Network, funded by the European Commission) for research on religion and atheism. Palacký University M.A. scholarship, 2006-2008