scholarly journals Limits of the EU’s transformative power and the Western Balkans

2019 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-49
Author(s):  
Maja Kovacevic
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Global Strategy ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Western Balkans ◽  
Transformative Power ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
The Eu

The European Union (EU) is a unique player in the Western Balkans, where it has employed a wide array of foreign policy instruments since the 1990s such as diplomacy, trade, financial assistance, civilian missions, military missions, and enlargement, which is the EU?s most successful foreign policy tool. The region is an inspiring case for studying the EU?s transformative power. The undeniable success of the EU?s Enlargement Policy in influencing transitions of Central and Eastern Europe countries has inspired research of the Europeanization, or the EU?s transformative power in relation to candidate countries, and its impact on their political and economic reforms during the accession process. Since then, the EU?s global transformative power has been in crisis. The European Neighbourhood Policy was reviewed in 2015, aiming not any more towards the transformation of neighbouring states, but rather at fostering their resilience. Similarly, the 2016 Global Strategy for the European Union?s Foreign and Security Policy set the principled pragmatism as a guideline. Moreover, the EU?s transformative power towards member states is questioned after two initiatives to trigger Article 7 TEU procedures against Poland and Hungary. What about the Europeanization of the Western Balkans? Despite the fact that the EU has been the main driver of change, the Europeanization of this post-conflict region has been slow. According to Freedom House, after substantial progress from 2004 to 2010, the Western Balkans has declined six years in a row, and its average Democracy Score in 2016 is the same as it was in 2004. With the exception of Albania, the scores of all countries are declining, not improving. The EU?s security-democratisation dilemma strongly affects its transformative power in the Western Balkans. By prioritising effective government rather than democratic governance, the EU has helped stabilise non-democratic and corrupt regimes rather than transforming them, legitimising Balkan "stabilitocrats".

scholarly journals The EU's Stability-Democratisation Dilemma in the Western Balkans: the case of Serbia

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maja Kovačević
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Organised Crime ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Western Balkans ◽  
Transformative Power ◽  
Policy Tool ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Main Driver ◽  
The Stability

The European Union (EU) is a unique player in the Western Balkans where, since the 1990s, it has employed a wide array of foreign policy instruments: diplomacy, trade, financial assistance, civilian and military missions, and enlargement which is the EU’s most successful foreign policy tool. Therefore, the region is an inspiring case for studying the EU’s transformative power. Despite the fact that the EU has been the main driver for change, the Europeanisation of this post-conflict region has been slow, which can largely be explained by high compliance costs, strong domestic veto players, and the inconsistent use of conditionality due to the stability-democratisation dilemma. This dilemma is likely to be even more pronounced in the future. Although there is no war in the Western Balkans, the region is facing other latent security challenges such as organised crime, terrorism, and irregular migration. How should security threats be faced in the absence of strong institutions? Serbia’s accession process reveals a weakness in that country's democratic, judicial, and law enforcement institutions, which can only reinforce the EU's stability-democratisation dilemma.

scholarly journals Migration issues in the EU’s common foreign and security policy – selected aspects

2021 ◽  
pp. 43-59
Author(s):  
Tomasz Dubowski
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
Migration Policy ◽  
External Action ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Eu Foreign Policy ◽  
Foreign And Security Policy ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Eu

In the discussion on the EU migration policy, it is impossible to evade the issue of the relation between this policy and the EU foreign policy, including EU common foreign and security policy. The subject of this study are selected links between migration issues and the CFSP of the European Union. The presented considerations aim to determine at what levels and in what ways the EU’s migration policy is taken into account in the space of the CFSP as a diplomatic and political (and subject to specific rules and procedures) substrate of the EU’s external action.

scholarly journals Mirroring transitional justice. Construction and impact of European Union ICTY-conditionality

Südosteuropa ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Niké Wentholt
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Restorative Justice ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Western Balkans ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
War Experiences ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu

AbstractThe European Union (EU) developed a state-building strategy for the aspiring member states in the Western Balkans. Demanding full cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the EU made transitional justice part of the accession demands. Scholars have recently criticized the EU’s limited focus on retributive justice as opposed to restorative justice. This paper goes beyond such impact-orientated analyses by asking why the EU engaged with retributive transitional justice in the first place. The EU constructed ICTY-conditionality by mirroring its own post-Second World War experiences to the envisioned post-conflict trajectory of the Western Balkans. The EU therefore expected the court to contribute to reconciliation, democratization and the rule of law. Using Serbia as a case study, this article examines the conditionality’s context, specificities and discursive claims. Finally, it relates these findings to the agenda of a promising regional initiative prioritizing restorative justice (RECOM) and sheds new light on the impact of ICTY-conditionality on transitional justice in the Western Balkans.

Global strategy for the EU – the end of the EU as a normative power?

2017 ◽  
pp. 24-36
Author(s):  
Jacek Czaputowicz
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Global Strategy ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Normative Power ◽  
The Eu

The article studies the consistency of the global strategy for the EU with the concept of the Union as a normative power. There are concerns, that putting interests above values could compromise the EU’s moral attractiveness. Introduction of “principled pragmatism” as a way of enhancing the resilience of states could question the promotion of democracy as an aim of foreign policy. The comparison of EU global strategy with the NATO Warsaw summit communiqué suggest the latter organisation acquires the features of normative power hitherto associated with the European Union.

The European Union security policy

2020 ◽  
pp. 80-86
Author(s):  
Ivanna Maryniv
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
The World ◽  
Foreign And Security Policy ◽  
Institutional Mechanism ◽  
The Eu

Problem setting. In spite of the presence of numerous conventions, treaties and organizations in the world today, the issue of security is still a very acute issue for the world community. There are many reasons for this: the presence of nuclear powers, serious disputes between countries that are justly considered world leaders, the existence of numerous local conflicts and wars of a more global nature across the globe. These and other factors are pushing states around the world to allocate budget funds to ensure effective security policies. Given today’s realities, one can trace the tendency of several countries to pool their own efforts and resources to pursue a common security policy. The European Union is one of the clearest examples of this behavior. This intergovernmental organization is committed to maintaining peace, diplomacy, trade and development around the world. The EU also promotes cooperation with neighboring countries through the European Neighborhood Policy. Target research. The aim of the research is to study the role of the European Union’s institutional mechanism in the exercise of its powers to ensure the defense and foreign policy cooperation of the Member States. Analysis of recent research and publication. Many domestic and foreign scholars, including B. Tonro, T. Christiansen, S. Morsch, G. Mackenstein, and others. The institutional basis of foreign and security policy is analyzed in detail by J. Peterson, questions related to the European Union’s security policy. M. Shackleton. K. Gill, M. Smith and others study the general features of the development of a common EU security policy. Some contribution to the study of various problems related to European and Euro-Atlantic integration has been made by such national scientists as V. Govorukh, I. Gritsyak, G. Nemyrya, L. Prokopenko, O. Rudik, V. Streltsov, O. Tragniuk, I. Shumlyaeva, I. Yakovyuk and others. Article’s main body. The article examines the emergence and development of the European Union’s security policy from the date of the Brussels Covenant to the present. Particular attention is paid to the role of the European Union’s institutional mechanism in the exercise of its powers to ensure the defense and foreign policy cooperation of the Member States. A study of the officially adopted five-year global foreign and security policy of the EU is being done to improve stability in Europe and beyond, analyzing EU conflict resolution and crisis management activities. Conclusions and prospect of development. In view of the above, it can be concluded that the EU’s foreign and security policy institutional framework is an extensive system in which all the constituencies are endowed with a certain range of general and specific powers and are called upon to cooperate with one another to achieve a common goal. It cannot be said that such close cooperation puts pressure on Member States. Yes, a Member State has the right to refrain from voting for any decision that requires unanimity and such abstention will not prevent the above decision being taken. In this case, the mechanism of so-called “constructive retention” is triggered: the abstaining country is not obliged to comply with the decision, however, accepts the fact that it is binding on other Member States and takes this into account when concluding treaties, which should not contradict the said decision.

The Western Balkans and the EU in multilateral organisations: Foreign policy coordination and declaratory alignment in the OSCE

2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florent Marciacq
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
Policy Coordination ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Western Balkans ◽  
Multilateral Diplomacy ◽  
Balkan States ◽  
Powerful Mechanism ◽  
The Eu

This paper sheds light on the Europeanisation of Western Balkan states' multilateral diplomacy in the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). More specifically, it enquires into the politics of declaratory alignment of six Western Balkan states. It analyses the frequency at which those states have aligned themselves with the statements of the European Union (EU) between 2004 and 2011, and researches qualitatively the motives of their alignment. !e paper finds that the declaratory behaviour of most Western Balkan states in the OSCE has become distinctively convergent with EU positions. Although conditionality certainly fosters alignment, the paper shows that socialisation is a more powerful mechanism of diffusion for most Western Balkan states; that emulation should not be neglected amongst small-sized countries; and that coercion and, interestingly, persuasion do not play a significant role.

scholarly journals Connectivity in the Western Balkans Region - Difficulties, Challenges and Alternatives

2021 ◽  
Vol 120 ◽  
pp. 01013
Author(s):  
Stanislav Stanev
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Significant Part ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Western Balkans ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Policy Priority ◽  
Alternative Solutions ◽  
The Eu

The countries of the Western Balkans have declared their foreign policy priority membership not only in NATO but also in the European Union. Achieving these goals is associated with overcoming many challenges of different nature. Although not directly related to the country's de facto membership of the EU, its infrastructure and the level of its connection with its neighbors raises many of the issues important to society and forms many of its immediate priorities. Difficulties in interconnectedness between countries can have both a political and a geographical basis. In this regard, a serious challenge for the Republic of Northern Macedonia is the level of connection with its eastern and western neighbors. Almost 30 years after the declaration of independence, the infrastructure continues to follow the realities set and realized by Socialist Yugoslavia. This in turn poses many difficulties for the economic development of the whole region. A significant part of the reasons for the lack of progress are also due to purely geographical reasons, but alternative solutions can be sought to overcome the backlog in connectivity.

European Union-Russia co-operation in the field of foreign and security policy

2009 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 295-318
Author(s):  
Ana Jovic-Lazic
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
Common Interest ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Foreign And Security Policy ◽  
The Eu

The author examines the development of co-operation between Russia and the European Union in the field of foreign and security policy. The research reveals that despite a common interest of Russia and the EU to build a real partnership in this area based on mutual interrelatedness and interdependence, there is still a big gap between the rhetoric and cooperation in practice. The explanations can be found in different expectations and interests of what both sides are trying to achieve through this cooperation. Although EU-Russia cooperation in foreign policy and security matters is still incomplete, some formal steps towards establishing true cooperation in this field have been taken.

scholarly journals Evolution of foreign policy priorities of the Western Balkan countries in the context of their European and Euro-Atlantic

2021 ◽  
pp. 143-157
Author(s):  
Mariana Echimovich ◽  
Vitaliy Alekseevich Danilov ◽  
Zarina Fazlitdinovna Mardonova ◽  
Maxim Kirillovich Karpukhin
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Regional Integration ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Western Balkans ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Balkan Countries

This article traces the evolution of foreign policy priorities of the Western Balkan countries in the context of their European and Euro-Atlantic integration over the period from the mid-1990s to 2020. The key goal lies in the analysis of formation and development of the European and Euro-Atlantic vectors in foreign policy of the Western Balkans. The relevance of the selected topic is defined by fact that all Western Balkan countries are somehow involved in the European and Euro-Atlantic integration processes, which prompts transformations in their home and foreign policy. In post-Cold War era, the Western Balkans depart from their foreign policy course, which they have followed since the end of the World War II. The conflicts that were related to dissolution of Yugoslavia underline the expansion of influence of the North Atlantic Alliance as the major “peacekeeper”, and the European Union, which took on the role of post-conflict settlement. In the under their influence. Tracing the evolution of foreign policy priorities of the Western Balkans within the framework of their European and Euro-Atlantic integration defines the scientific novelty of this research. The acquired conclusions can be implemented in theoretical and practical activity. The article explores the regional initiatives of NATO and EU, which were aimed at stabilization of the Western Balkan region through transformation of state and social institutions, development of interstate cooperation, and involvement in regional integration processes. For determination of the role of the European Union and NATO in foreign policy of the Western Balkans, the author analyzed the doctrinal documents of the Western Balkan countries, which highlighted the priority of European and Euro-Atlantic vector.

Peacebuilding and Statebuilding in Libya: An Analysis on the Role of the European Union

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 163-179
Author(s):  
Francesco Battaglia
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
State Building ◽  
Legal Analysis ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Foreign And Security Policy ◽  
The Eu

Abstract The Libyan crisis is the largest and closest crisis on the southern borders of the EU. It is therefore reasonable that the stabilization of this country and the engagement of international relations and partnership with an independent and effective government of Libya is a central point of the EU’s foreign policy since the outbreak of the crisis in 2011. The consolidation of peace in Libya is of primary importance not only because of political and economic reasons. The engagement with Libya is essential for the EU even to strengthen its role as global actor in the field of foreign and security policy. Finally, the Libyan crisis is closely connected with the migration emergency that is weakening European political cohesion. The purpose of this article is thus to carry out a legal analysis on the role of the EU in promoting peace/state-building in Libya, to make some considerations on the main lesson learned.

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