Political Antagonisms, Misaligned Security Policies, and Economic Integration Efforts in the Western Balkans: Present Challenges and Future Perspectives

Jelisavac Trošić, Sanja and Arnaudov, Mitko (2024) Political Antagonisms, Misaligned Security Policies, and Economic Integration Efforts in the Western Balkans: Present Challenges and Future Perspectives. In: Global Security and International Relations After the Escalation of the Ukrainian Crisis. Institute of International Politics and Economics; Faculty of Security, University; Sapienza University, Department of Political Science; Austin Peay State University, Belgrade; Rome; Clarksville, pp. 429-454. ISBN 978-86-7067-328-1

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Abstract

Incoherence is an expression that could be used to describe the political, economic and security developments in the Western Balkans. Armed conflicts during the 1990s, attempts at reconciliation during the 2000s and regional cooperation under “external” mentorship represent three focal points that characterize the contemporary history of the Western Balkans. Meanwhile, numerous regional models, frameworks and initiatives for economic integrations followed the formula – economic integration as a prerequisite for lasting peace. All of these have contributed to the fact that actors in the Western Balkans have only one common denominator – membership in the european union, as a key and strategic foreign policy goal. However, the achievement of that common denominator was without a clear strategy on how to do it and whether such a foreign policy goal, in real international circumstances, is still achievable. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to establish how regional circumstances determine the realization of the foreign policy goals of the Western Balkan actors. How and whether potential economic integration, as a basis, has contributed to essential reconciliation and cooperation? From the academic perspective, in a theoretical sense, the goal is to establish how much economic integration is a realistic basis for reconciliation on the political level in ongoing international circumstances, which would probably be best described today by neoclassical realists.

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