The role of geography and history in determining the slower progress of post-communist transition in the Balkans

2008 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milenko Petrovic
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Economic Transition ◽  
Initial Conditions ◽  
Central European ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Decisive Importance ◽  
Structural Impacts ◽  
Balkan States ◽  
Political Economic

Central European and Baltic nations have progressed markedly faster than the other former communist states of Eastern Europe in post-communist transition. While five East Central European and three Baltic states have managed to successfully achieve the most important goals of political and economic transition and fulfil the criteria for EU membership, their counterparts from the Balkans continue to experience serious difficulties in implementing transitional reforms and merely hope for such an outcome. Scholarly analyses of the reasons for this division of post-communist Eastern Europe have often tended to emphasise the decisive importance of the initial geo-political, economic and socio-cultural conditions dating back to the deep pre-communist histories of the countries in question. Not denying the relevance and structural impacts of some historical and geo-political facts concerning the establishment of these differences, this paper argues that there is a limited explanatory value to structural arguments of the role of initial conditions in assessing the reasons for the slower progress of the Balkan states in post-communist reform.

Restoring the Memory

2019 ◽  
pp. 30-49
Author(s):  
Goran Ilik
Keyword(s):  
The European Union ◽  
Main Research ◽  
East European ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
European Cooperation ◽  
Balkan Region ◽  
Key Features ◽  
Balkan States ◽  
The Eu

This chapter explores the key features of the concept of postnationalism, its modes, and theoretical implications regarding the European Union. The main research intention is to explore the EU as a model and an agent for reconciliation of the Balkan region. For that purpose, the main operative elements of both the South East European Cooperation Process and “Yugosphere” are examined. At the end, it is concluded that the emulation of EU postnational model by the Balkan countries enables the process of reconciliation. Hence, the Balkan states seems to be “forced” to cooperate with each other, in order to achieve their common objective – their full integration into the EU, which strongly confirms the role of the EU as an agent for reconciliation of the Balkans.

scholarly journals Enlightened Travelers and Their Mental Maps

2015 ◽  
pp. 145-155
Author(s):  
Nikolay Aretov
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
General Description ◽  
Common Elements ◽  
Mental Maps ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Patriarchal Culture ◽  
Mental Mapping

Enlightened Travelers and Their Mental MapsThe issue of mental mapping of Eastern Europe (Wolff), posed during the Enlightenment, and the similar problem of the image of the Balkans (Todorova), are both multifaceted. This paper deals with three aspects of these processes and seeks to analyse them through the prism of the Orientalism-Occidentalism opposition.The article opens with a very general description of the Oriental mental maps on the part of 19th-century Bulgarian revolutionaries and modernisers. Most characteristic in this respect are the diaries of those convicted to exile in the Diarbekir fortress. I then turn my attention to texts by influential foreigners who arrived in Bulgaria immediately after 1878, including especially the publications by the Czech historian and Slavonic scholar Constantine Jireček and some of the reactions they provoked.The article reveals common elements in both the foreign perspective on the inhabitants of the Orient/the Balkans/Bulgaria and the Bulgarian perspective on the Occident/Western Europe. A hypothesis is proposed that what the analysed texts portray is not a general clash between traditionalism (patriarchal culture) and modernity but rather a very particular conflict over which group should perform the role of the “civiliser” of Bulgarian society. Both sides of the conflict made instrumental use of existing discourses, be it modernist or patriarchal, Orientalist or Occidentalist.Oświeceni podróżnicy i ich mapy mentalneProblem mentalnego kartografowania Europy Wschodniej (L. Wolff), jak też Bałkanów (M. Todorowa), od czasów oświecenia jest wieloaspektowy. Artykuł charakteryzuje trzy spośród tych aspektów i poszukuje związków pomiędzy nimi, poprzez analizę opozycji orientalizm – okcydentalizm.Na początku prezentuję najogólniej mapy mentalne bułgarskich rewolucjonistów i przedstawicieli nowoczesności z XIX wieku na Bałkanach (Orient). Najbardziej charakterystyczne pod tym względem są dzienniki skazańców z twierdzy tureckiej w Diar-Bekir. Następnie moja uwaga skupia się na tekstach wpływowych cudzoziemców, którzy znaleźli się w Bułgarii bezpośrednio po 1878 roku, a wśród nich w centrum mojego zainteresowania znajdują się niektóre publikacje Czecha Konstantina Irečka i reakcje na nie.Artykuł jest próbą zarysu punktu widzenia cudzoziemca w stosunku do przedstawicieli Orientu /Bałkanów/Bułgarii i bułgarskiego dystansu w odniesieniu do Okcydentu /Zachodu/ Europy. Materiał analizowany skłania ku hipotezie, że nie o zderzenie między tradycjonalizmem (patriarchalną kulturą) i nowoczesnością idzie, ale o konkretną walkę o odegranie roli "cywilizatora" bułgarskiego społeczeństwa. W tej walce oponenci wykorzystują instrumentalnie dostępne dyskursy, modernistyczne, czy też patriarchalne, orientalne, czy okcydentalne. Просветени пътешественици и техните ментални картиПроблемът за менталното картографиране на Източна Европа (Л. Улф) от Просвещението, както и сродния му проблем за отношението към Балканите (М. Тодорова) имат многобройни аспекти. Статията очертава три от тях и търси връзките им, видени през опозицията ориентализъм – оксидентализъм. В началото са представени най-общо менталните карти на българите революционери и модернизатори от ХІХ в. на Ориента. Те са особено характерни за мемоарите на заточениците в Диарбекир. След това вниманието се насочва към текстовете на влиятелни чужденци, попаднали в България непосредствено след 1878 г., на първо място някои публикации на чеха Константин Иречек и някои реакции към тях. Разкрити са общите елементи в ориенталистката гледна точка на чужденеца и оксиденталистките възражения на българина. Изказва се хипотезата, че в случая не се наблюдава сблъсък между традиционно (патриархално) и модерно, а конкурентна борба за ролята на "цивилизатора" на българското общество. В тази борба опонентите използват инструментално наличните дискурси, били те модернистки или патриархални, ориенталистки или оксиденталистки.

scholarly journals Revisiting “Tin in South-eastern Europe?”

Starinar ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 85-94
Author(s):  
Wayne Powell ◽  
Ognjen Mladenovic ◽  
Steffanie Cruse ◽  
Arthur Bankoff ◽  
Ryan Mathur
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Isotopic Signature ◽  
The Other ◽  
Late Bronze Age ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
Placer Deposits ◽  
South Eastern Europe

The important role of the Balkans in the origin and development of metallurgy is well established with respect to copper. In addition, Aleksandar Durman, in his 1997 paper ?Tin in South-eastern Europe??, essentially initiated studies into the role of the Balkans in Europe?s Bronze Age tin economy. He identified six geologically favourable sites for tin mineralisation and associated fluvial placer deposits in the former Yugoslavian republics, and suggested that these may have added to the tin supply of the region. The viability of two of these sites has been confirmed (Mt Cer and Bukulja, Serbia) but the exploitation potential for the other locations has remained untested. River gravels from these four sites (Motajica and Prosara in Bosnia and Herzegovina; Bujanovac in Serbia; Ograzden in North Macedonia) were obtained by stream sluicing and panning. The sites of Prosara and Bujanovac were found to be barren with respect to cassiterite (SnO2). Streams flowing from Motajica and Ograzden were both found to contain cassiterite, but in amounts several orders of magnitude less than at Mt Cer and Bukulja. Although it is possible that minor tin recovery occurred at Motajica and Ograzden, it is unlikely that they could have contributed meaningfully to regional tin trade. This is supported by the fact that the isotopic signature (?124Sn) of cassiterite from Motajica is highly enriched in light isotopes of tin compared to that associated with Late Bronze Age artefacts of the region.

scholarly journals Contentious politics in the European (post-socialist)(semi-)periphery: Mapping rebellion and social protests in southeast and eastern Europe

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 615-626
Author(s):  
Jelena Vasiljevic
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Economic Transition ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Contentious Politics ◽  
Ethnic Conflicts ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Eu Integration ◽  
Social Protests ◽  
Dominant Narratives ◽  
Transitional Environments

This essay takes a critical and reflective look at two recently published books on contentious politics in the Balkans and Eastern Europe: Social Movements in the Balkans (ed. by F. Bieber and D. Brentin, Routledge 2018) and Ideology and Social Protests in Eastern Europe (V. Stoyanova, Routledge 2018). Focusing on regions somewhat neglected in scholarly analyses of the recent global upsurge of protests, these books aim to fill the gap by highlighting some contextual and regional specificities: a position of economic and geo-political (semi)periphery, weak or unconsolidated democratic institutions, post-socialist and transitional environments, societal (ethnic) divisions, etc. By critically assessing both contributions, in a manner that looks for their complementarity, this essay: examines the characteristics of popular mobilizations and grievances in Southeast and Eastern Europe; questions dominant narratives of political and economic transition and EU integration; re-evaluates socialist heritage and post-socialist political trajectories; discusses the (im) possibilities of articulating political alternatives to representative democracy and free market economy; and addresses the burden of conflicting memories and attitudes towards the region?s socialist past (and, in case of post-Yugoslav states, ethnic conflicts from the 1990s).

Europe as a Cultural-Civilizational Construct

2019 ◽  
pp. 36-61
Author(s):  
Katherine Graney
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Eastern Boundary ◽  
European Form

This chapter examines the different meanings that “Europe” has historically had. It explores the geographic, cultural, religious, and historical understandings of Europe, stressing the uncertainty regarding Europe’s eastern boundary, and how this uncertainty has given rise to the idea that there are actually many “different” Europes, including Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Mitteleuropa, and the Balkans. It stresses the role of Christianity in understanding Europeanness, and the role that Orthodoxy plays as a “quasi-European” form of Christianity, and Islam as Europe and Christianity’s certain “other.” It also discusses how Russia, in both its Tsarist and Soviet guises, has been judged by others (and itself) to only imperfectly fit the criteria associated with Europeanness, even as it judged non-Russian others within its realm according to those same criteria.

Introduction Turkey and the Balkans in the New Millennium: Religion, Identity and Power

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Ahmet Erdi Öztürk
Keyword(s):  
Balkan Peninsula ◽  
The Political ◽  
Cultural Hegemony ◽  
Cultural Economic ◽  
Turkish Republic ◽  
Popular Opinion ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Justice And Development Party ◽  
Political Economic

‘ Turkey is back!’ Since the beginning of the 2000s, a considerable number of semi-academic and academic productions, echoing popular opinion, have been building around this theme with regard to the role of the Turkish Republic in the Balkan Peninsula and its social, cultural, economic and religious ramifications. Some claim that the policies of the successive AKP (Justice and Development Party – Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi) governments and the political strategies of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan concerning the Balkans have long been energised by Turkey’s desire to re-establish political, economic, religious and cultural hegemony in the region through various neo-imperialist and neo-colonial projects, and to foresee the revitalisation of the multifaceted Ottoman legacy....

scholarly journals The Early Jochid Campaigns and the pro-Toluid Written Sources

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 647-661
Author(s):  
Roman Hautala ◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Research Results ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
History Of ◽  
Chinese Official ◽  
Military Campaigns ◽  
Role Based ◽  
Mongol Empire ◽  
Written Sources

Research objectives: To analyze the information contained in diverse written sources about the early Jochid conquests which preceded the start of Batu’s western campaign in Eastern Europe (1236–1242) and to discuss the role in the implementation of these military campaigns that each of these diverse sources ascribes to Chinggis Khan’s eldest son, Jochi, and his progeny. Research materials: The author exclusively used written and already published sources – namely: Arabic works of Ibn al-Athir and Qaratay al-Izzi al-Khaznadari (the work of the latter author is often mistakenly attributed to Ibn Wasil); Persian works of al-Nasawi, Juzjani, Juwayni, and Rashid al-Din; the Mongolian Secret History of the Mongols and the Chinese official annals Yuan Shi and Shengwu qinzheng lu; Latin accounts on two travels of the Dominican Julian to pre-Mongol Eastern Europe, subsequent Latin reports by John of Plano Carpini and C. de Bridia on the first European diplomatic mission to the Mongol Empire, as well as the bulls of Pope Gregory IX regarding the situation in the Balkans during the arrival of the first Qipchaq refugees from the Mongols; the Greek works of George Akropolites, Ephraim, and Nicephorus Gregoras regarding the same situation in the Balkans, as well as a fragment from the Life of St. Louis by Jean de Joinville. Research novelty: Based on Christopher Atwood’s successful results in comparing the pro-Toluid sources with those written outside the Toluid courts, a similar method is employed here for Jochi’s last campaign as well as for the early campaigns of his successor, Batu. Research results: A comparison of both types of sources allows us to trace the delibe­rate understatement of the role of the Jochids in the pro-Toluid sources. As well, we are able to restore their real role, based on information from parallel sources.

scholarly journals Middle East: New Balkans of the World?

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 112
Author(s):  
Dr.Sc. Georgescu Stefan ◽  
Dr.Sc. Munteanu Marilena
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Western Civilization ◽  
Modern World ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
The World ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
The 19Th Century

Middle East is a region whose geopolitical dynamics has many analogies with the role of the Balkans in the first half of the 19th century and up to the 3rd decade of the 20th century, namely a "Powder keg of Europe", defined in the same period as the "Eastern Issue".Moreover, Middle East is a region located at the junction of three continents: Europe, Asia and the Mediterranean Africa, and along with ancient Egypt is the cradle of Western civilization, providing for it political, economic, religious, scientific, military, intellectual and institutional models.Four millennia of civilization before Christian era did not pass without leaving a trace.Trade, currency, law, diplomacy, technology applied to works in time of war or peace, the profit based economy and the bureaucratized economy, popular and absolutist government, nationalist and universal spirit, tolerance and fanaticism – all these are not inventions of the modern world, but have their origins and methods of implementation, often even sophisticated methods, in this region.

scholarly journals Main challenges for the Greek national security against the geopolitical changes in the Balkans during the period 1918–1923

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 193-212
Author(s):  
Jędrzej Paszkiewicz
Keyword(s):  
Balance Of Power ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Military Conflict ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Balkan Region ◽  
Close Cooperation ◽  
Balkan States ◽  
The Military ◽  
Of Greece

The aim of the article is to show the role of the Balkan states within the Greek foreign policy during the period 1918–1923, on the base of diplomatic correspondence and historiography. The consequences of the military conflict with Turkey (1918–1922) and the internal problems, constantly harassing the socio-political life of Greece, seriously weakened its ability to impact effectively on particular geopolitical problems in the Balkan region. The Greek regional policy could be achieved, completely or partially, only with close cooperation with the powers from outside. It was connected with such cases as the delimitation of the Albanian frontier or the solution of the Western Thrace question in 1920. On the other hand, the proceedings of the Greek diplomats were determined by the belief that due to the unresolved territorial and national controversies, especially in the issue of the Macedonian and Thracian lands, the particular Balkan states were dependent on each other on the international arena. That is why the Greek diplomacy started apply the tactics of balance of power in the region, aiming at the creation of less or more stable bilateral political constructions with the Kingdom SCS (Yugoslavia) and Romania. Their aim was to ensure the advantage over the competitors on the Balkan arena, especially over Bulgarian and Turkish revisionist agendas. 

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document