Europeanization, state-building and democratization in the Western Balkans

Abstract

The Western Balkans have seen rapid changes since the end of the violent conflicts in the 1990s. The European Union (EU) has been one of the main drivers for change, focusing on the political, economic and social transformation of the region to prepare the countries for membership in the Union. This introduction to the special issue will clarify the key terms and their interaction in the Western Balkans. EU enlargement has never before been this complex and inter-connected with processes of state-building and democratization. The focus on conditionality as the main tool of the EU in the region has had positive and negative effects. It can be argued that the EU is actively involved in state-building processes and therefore the term EU Member State Building will be used to explain the engagement of the Union with the countries in the region. This paper will discuss the concept of EU Member State Building, its potential and its pitfalls. It will be demonstrated that the stabilization of the region is unlikely to take place without an active role for the EU; however, the current approach has reached its limits and it is time to think about alternative options to integrate the Western Balkans into European structures.

Keywords:

• EU Member State Building
• Western Balkans
• democratization

Notes

The term “countries of the Western Balkans” refers to the former Yugoslav Republics of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro (minus Slovenia, which joined the EU in 2004). It also includes Kosovo and Albania. I will use the terms “Western Balkans,” the former Yugoslavia and Southeastern Europe to describe these countries.

These criteria can be seen at: http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/policy/conditions-membership/index_en.htm (05 February 2013).

See the European Commission's Opinion on the Application for Accession to the European Union by the Republic of Croatia. (European Commission Opinion on the Application for Accession ).

See the Progress Reports for Montenegro (European Commission Montenegro 2011 Progress Report) and Macedonia (European Commission Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia 2011 Progress Report).

This certainly applies to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Serbia. Montenegro was also part of the Yugoslav involvement in the Croatian, Bosnian and Kosovo War and the violence in Macedonia did not end in a civil war because the EU and NATO intervened early. Albania has also seen numerous violent clashes in the 1990s and the breakdown of the so-called pyramid scheme ended in de-facto anarchy and violence between different social groups in Albania.