scholarly journals The Open End of the War of Yugoslav Legacy: the Consequences of the Dissolution of the SFRY Three Decades Later

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-95
Author(s):  
D. V. Yefremenko

The article examines the dynamics and prospects of resolving the main confl icts in the Western Balkans three decades after the collapse of Yugoslavia. The most important factors infl uencing the confl ict dynamics in the region are ethnonationalism, ethnic homogenization and external interference. Western intervention made it possible to stop hostilities, but at the same time it actually consolidated the results of ethnic homogenization. The Serbo-Croatian confl ict is close to its exhaustion due to the actual support of the West for Operation “Storm” (1995), the exodus of more than 200 thousand Serbs from Croatia, the integration of Croatia into NATO and the European Union. Despite the negative burden of historical memory, both Zagreb and Belgrade in bilateral relations are increasingly guided by political pragmatism and balanced assessments of the qualitatively changed situation. Against this background, the Dayton model of state structure in Bosnia and Herzegovina, built on the basis of institutional transactions of actors representing competing ethnocultural communities, demonstrates its dysfunctionality. The interaction and cooperation of these actors remain largely limited, carried out under external control and pressure. Regarding the structure of the article, the author, fi rst, discusses some general issues contributing to the enduring confl ict in the Western Balkans; second, the article examines the prospects of antagonism between the Serbs and Croats; third, I analyze the impact of the Dayton Accords on the post-Yugoslav space. I conclude that scenarios for the future of the Western Balkans, to which the European Union and the United States are oriented, do not lead to the elimination of the causes of major confl icts in the post-Yugoslav space and obviously diverge in essential points from the images of the desired future that correspond to the aspirations of a signifi cant part of the population in the region.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Biba

Abstract As the Sino-American Great Power competition continues to intensify, newly-elected US President Joe Biden's administration now seeks to enlist the support of its allies and partners around the world. As Europe's largest economy and a, if not the, leading voice within the European Union, Germany represents an important puzzle-piece for Biden. But Germany, at least under outgoing chancellor Angela Merkel, has been reluctant to take sides. It is against this backdrop that this article looks into Germany's past and present trilateral relationships with the US and China through the theoretical lens of the so-called strategic triangle approach. Applying this approach, the article seeks to trace and explain German behaviour, as well as to elucidate the opportunities and pitfalls that have come with it. The article demonstrates that Germany's recently gained position as a ‘pivot’ (two positive bilateral relationships) between the US and Chinese ‘wings’ (positive bilateral relations with Germany and negative bilateral relations with each other) is desirable from the perspective of the strategic triangle. At the same time, being pivot is also challenging and hard to maintain. Alternative options, such as entering a US–German ‘marriage’ directed against China, are also problematic. The article therefore concludes that Germany has tough decisions to take going forward.


Südosteuropa ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Niké Wentholt

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.


2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (83) ◽  
pp. 6-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dejan Jović

Abstract This paper focuses on perceptions of the European Union (EU) and external actors (such as the United States, Russia, and Turkey) in six countries of the Western Balkans (WB) and Croatia in a comparative perspective. We present data generated by public opinion polls and surveys in all countries of that region in order to illustrate growing trends of EU indifferentism in all predominately Slavic countries of the region. In addition, there is an open rejection of pro-EU policies by significant segments of public opinion in Serbia and in the Republic of Srpska, Bosnia-Herzegovina. On the contrary, there is much enthusiasm and support for the West in general and the EU in particular in predominately non-Slavic countries, Kosovo and Albania. We argue that the WB as a region defined by alleged desire of all countries to join the the EU is more of an elite concept than that shared by the general population, which remains divided over the issue of EU membership. In explaining reasons for such a gap we emphasise a role of interpretation of the recent past, especially when it comes to a role the West played in the region during the 1990s.


Author(s):  
Marina Popa ◽  
Maia Pisaniuc

The objective of this research is to demonstrate the impact of technological, economic and social indicators on productivity and competitiveness through the HARD Matrix method, proposed by the European Commission. The level of economic development of different countries, as well as the degree of diversification and specialization of their world production, determines the degree of integration of national economies in the world economy that differs considerably by country and group of countries. The expansion and amplification of the internationalization process have substantially changed the place and role of each state in the world economy. Due to this process, today's world economy is no longer a simple sum of economies put in contact, but a global-universal system, unitary through the interrelationships between the component subsystems and its extremely heterogeneous structure. In the twenty first-century, the process of amplifying innovation, the net economy, and the Covid 19 pandemic have shaped new trends in the world countries and determined the balance of power between the three great empires of the world – the United States, the European Union, and China. At the same time, there are no similar links between the United States, the European Union and China, they do not share the same culture, do not share the same geographic space, and do not use the same models of economic development, but all of them consider innovation, sophisticated business, technology, safe tools in promoting economic growth and competitiveness.


2022 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Clara Portela ◽  
Thijs Van Laer

Since the 1990s, sanctions senders like the European Union, the United States, and the United Nations have been imposing visa bans and asset freezes on individuals as a key element of their sanctions packages. Notwithstanding the growing centrality that individual sanctions have acquired in international sanctions practice, little is known about the impact of sanctions listings on designees. Some researchers have scrutinised targeting choices, while others have explored the effects of sanctions on designees. However, no study has yet examined the fit between targeting choices and impacts on designees. First, we interrogate the theory of targeted sanctions to identify the expectations that it generates. Second, we examine the effects on designees and contrast them with the targeting logic of the sender, in a bid to ascertain their fit. Our analysis of the cases of Côte d’Ivoire (2010–2011) and Zimbabwe (2002–2017) benefits from original interview material.


World Affairs ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 183 (3) ◽  
pp. 256-269
Author(s):  
Pavlo Klimkin ◽  
Andreas Umland

Among various geopolitical repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic are redefinitions of the short-term priorities of many international organizations. Among others, the European Union (EU) and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) are becoming absorbed by new internal challenges, and are thus even less interested in further enlargement than before. Against this background, Kyiv, Tbilisi, and Chisinau, as well as their Western friends, need to seek new paths to increase the three countries’ security, resilience, and growth before their accession to the West’s major organizations. Above all, an alternative way to decrease Ukraine’s current institutional isolation is to develop more intense bilateral relations with friendly states across the globe, including Germany and the United States. In Eastern Europe, moreover, Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova should attempt to create new multilateral networks with post-communist member countries of NATO as well as the EU, and try to become part of such structures as the Three Seas Initiative or Bucharest Nine group.


Author(s):  
Michael Smith ◽  
Rebecca Steffenson

This chapter examines the evolution of the European Union's relations with the United States. More specifically, it looks at the ways in which EU–US relations enter into the international relations of the EU as well as the implications for key areas of the EU's growing international activity. The chapter begins with an overview of the changing shape and focus of the EU–US relationship as it enters into economic, political, and security questions. It then considers the impact of EU–US relations on the EU's system of international relations, on the EU's role in the processes of international relations, and on the EU's position as a ‘power’ in international relations. It shows that the EU–US relationship has played a key (and contradictory) role in development of the EU's foreign policy mechanisms.


2010 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 471-484 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mareen Poser

AbstractThe pharmaceutical sector is one of the main markets in the European Union. The consumption of medicines is high and steadily increasing. However, the pharmaceutical market is subject to a wider range of restrictions than almost any other sector. The restrictions mainly apply to information provision and advertising practice within the community. One of the main features in pharmaceutical regulation is the ban on direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) of prescription medicines. However, an abolition of the ban is controversial in the European Community, especially as the pharmaceutical industry keeps pleading for its ability to use the highly effective marketing strategy of DTCA to promote prescription medicines to the general public. Such advertising is only allowed in two jurisdictions in the world, New Zealand and the United States. In both systems the impact of DTCA on the consumer and the economy has been subject to research. The outcome of these studies is outlined in this article. Since the European Commission has provided a new proposal to amend the current information practice regarding prescription medicines in 2008 (European Commission, Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council Amending, as Regards Information to the General Public on Medicinal Products Subject to Medical Prescription, Directive 2001/83/EC on the Community Code Relating to Medicinal Products for Human Use, COM/2008/0663 final) it is time to examine different options to regulate the provision of information and discuss the need for a ban of DTCA.


2016 ◽  
Vol 41 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 368-395 ◽  
Author(s):  
Žygimantas Juška

Contingency-fee agreements are one—if not the only—tool that can be used to ensure that small-stakes collective antitrust actions are heard, yet they are subject to strong resistance from the European Union. There is a concern that contingency fees could lead to abuses of the system or conflicts of interest, as has been seen in the United States. Contrary to eu policy, two proactive member states—Lithuania and Poland—have introduced the possibility of using contingency fees in group litigation in order to facilitate group actions. Despite having a lot of potential, this paper will demonstrate that the introduction alone of contingency fees will not facilitate the compensation objective that is embedded in the Directive on damages actions. In addition, it will show that the safeguard policy against frivolous litigation is sufficient to limit the possibilities for litigation abuses, but it is ineffective for monitoring the individual behavior of group representatives.


Vojno delo ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 73 (2) ◽  
pp. 18-30
Author(s):  
Aleksandar Dumić ◽  
Mitar Kovač

The answer to transnational and asymmetric threats that are a topical issue on the world geopolitical stage can be found in the integration of national security systems, strengthening multilateral forms of security and the collective system of international security, as the key factors in providing peace, stability and democratic development of modern countries. In such circumstances, the need for a cooperative approach in preserving and improving security, based on cooperation and pooling of security capacities of nation states, is strengthening. This paper views the current achievements of the European Union (hereinafter EU) in terms of implementing its own security policy, primarily in the Western Balkans, in a broader sense, and the specific impact of such a policy on the security of the Republic of Serbia, in a narrower sense. Having in mind the extensive and complex context of the discussed topic, the paper considers, in the authors' opinion, an essential part of this issue, through the analysis of the position of the Republic of Serbia in such context, reviewing the genesis of the EU-Serbia relations and identifying current issues in these relations, and also through the possibilities of progress of cooperation and greater involvement of the capacities of our country in the current EU security policy in this region and beyond.


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