scholarly journals Strengthening the historical ties between Serbia and Cyprus in view of 21st century challenges and opportunities in Europe: The elevated geostrategic position in the Balkans and Eastern Mediterranean, the common legacy of neutrality and future engagement

Napredak ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-18
Author(s):  
Dimitrios Teofilaktu
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Eu Enlargement ◽  
Strategic Partnership ◽  
British Colonialism ◽  
Western Balkans ◽  
National Interests ◽  
European Continent ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities

The foundations of the strong historical ties between Serbia and Cyprus lie on common struggles, dating back to the 19th and 20th centuries, particularly during the two great wars. Their long struggles against various aggressors, like the Ottoman Turks, Nazi Germany and British colonialism, have left long-lasting wounds on their societies, but also a legacy of bravery, resilience, perseverance and national pride. The deep friendship is also premised on common cultural and Orthodox roots, which helped the two peoples overcome major challenges and preserve their national identity and cultural values. This analysis explores the challenges ahead and assesses the new strategic partnership, including the trilateral cooperation between Serbia-Greece-Cyprus, particularly in light of EU enlargement in the Western Balkans and the volatile situation in the Eastern Mediterranean. The article also attempts to evaluate how the policy of neutrality, that both Yugoslavia and Cyprus have pursued as founding members of the Non-Aligned Movement, would serve today the national interests of Serbia and Cyprus and, by extension, stability and security in their respective regions and the European continent at large, given their elevated geostrategic position.

scholarly journals The V4 Countries’ Foreign Policy concerning the Western Balkans

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-164
Author(s):  
Christina Griessler
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Role Models ◽  
Role Theory ◽  
Eu Enlargement ◽  
Western Balkans ◽  
National Interests ◽  
Foreign Policies ◽  
Western Balkan Region ◽  
European Values ◽  
Balkan Region

Abstract This contribution explores the Visegrad Four’s (V4) foreign policy initiatives in the Western Balkans by considering each state’s interests and policies and the evolution of joint V4 objectives. My underlying hypothesis is that the foreign policy‑related behaviour of individual states is shaped by certain roles that they assume and by their national interests. This work uses role theory to explain the V4 states’ foreign policies both generally and in the specific case of the Western Balkans. The V4 have prioritised cooperation with this region, and I analyse the programmes of the last four V4 presidencies (Slovakia 2014-2015, the Czech Republic 2015-2016, Poland 2016-2017 and Hungary 2017-2018) to reveal key foreign policy objectives and explore why they were selected. At the same time, I examine the interests of each V4 country and the reasons for their joint attention to the Western Balkan region. My analysis shows that the V4 perceive themselves as supportive and constructive EU and NATO members and see their policies as reflective of European values. Moreover, they believe they should contribute to EU enlargement by sharing experiences of economic and political transformation with the Western Balkan states and serving as role models.

scholarly journals The Republic of North Macedonia - A 'new' country in the Western Balkans

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 87-107
Author(s):  
Mira Šorović
Keyword(s):  
The European Union ◽  
Western Balkans ◽  
Regional Politics ◽  
European Continent ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
The North ◽  
Short Period ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Real Picture

Abstract The article tries to explain and define political processes and changes trhough history of the 'new' Western Balkans country - the Republic of North Macedonia. It is word about analysis of the political dispute between Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and Greece, from its biginnings until the present day. This paper will try to give the real picture of political area in the Balkans and explore deeper roots of the 'Macedonian Question' controversy. Also, it will give the explinations of the resolution of 27-year dispute, (between the two neighbor countries), by signing the Prespa Agreement. Hence, leaving by side national identity and history, the North Macedonia will be able to join the European Union and NATO. Thus, in short period of time, a 'new' country in the Western Balkans has putted in the center of the regional politics, with clear purpose: promoting ethnic and cultural heritance in the edge of the European continent.

Brexit will remove advocate for Balkans enlargement

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Emerging Economies ◽  
Eu Enlargement ◽  
Western Balkans ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
National Bank ◽  
Key Policy ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Business As Usual ◽  
The Eu

Subject Prospects for EU enlargement to the Western Balkans after the UK vote to leave. Significance EU officials and diplomats in the region are publicly trying to send messages that, when it comes to the accession prospects of the Western Balkan countries, everything remains 'business as usual', despite the UK vote to leave ('Brexit'). The familiar refrain is that as long as the countries of the region deliver on the reforms demanded by the EU, the process will continue to move forward. Impacts UK-Balkans trade, investment and remittances flows are too low to inflict any appreciable Brexit 'shock'. Serbia will remain on course for the EU despite Brexit, which will have no major financial or economic impact, the Serbian premier has said. However, the National Bank of Serbia cut its key policy rate yesterday, expecting Brexit to affect emerging economies, including Serbia. Pro-Russian elements in the Balkans will welcome UK withdrawal as removing a perceived obstacle to rapprochement between the EU and Russia.

Prospects for the Balkans in 2020

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Eu Enlargement ◽  
The United States ◽  
Western Balkans ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
South Eastern Europe ◽  
Domestic Instability

Subject Prospects for the Balkans in 2020. Significance Political malaise in South-eastern Europe will continue next year as EU enlargement (the West’s plan for stabilising the troubled Western Balkans) becomes an ever more remote prospect and the United States and Russia continue their ‘new Cold War’ in the region. These overarching developments will coincide with, and contribute to, a deepening domestic instability in much of the region.

scholarly journals The Eu Enlargement. How to be Like the Irish and not the Greek?

ECONOMICS ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 49-58
Author(s):  
Tahir Mahmutefendic
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Eu Enlargement ◽  
Developmental Level ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Western Balkans ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Rich Club ◽  
Balkan Countries ◽  
The Eu

Abstract Apart from the former EFTA members (Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway and Switzerland) and a few former republics of the Soviet Union (Bjelorussia, Moldova and Ukraina) the countries of the Western Balkans are the only European states outside of the European Union. They are very keen to join the Union. The Balkans have always been the poorest part of Europe. The appeal of the wealthy European Union is apparent. Access to the largest market in the world, investment, modern technologies and generous regional funds give a hope that by joining the EU the Western Balkans countries will join the rich club. At the moment performance of the Western Balkan countries does not guarantee that they will become rich by joining the European Union. Their current production and trade structure makes it likely that the Western Balkan countries will be locked in inter-industry trade in which they will export products of low and medium technological and developmental level and import products of high technological and developmental level. This might lead to divergence rather than convergence between them and the European Union. In other to overcome this problem the Western Balkan countries need to conduct radical reforms in the public sector, fiscal policy, industrial trade and investment policy. They also need to tackle corruption, simplify administrative procedure, strenghten property rights and the lawful state. All this with the aim to change economic structure and shift from achievements of the second and third to fourth technological revolution. Only if these reforms are successfuly implemented the Western Balkan countries can hope to avoid the Greek scenario and possibly experience the Irish scenario.

scholarly journals Decolonization of Cyprus and position of the Soviet Union (1953-1959(

2020 ◽  
pp. 42-56
Author(s):  
Argyrios Tasoulas
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
United Nations Security Council ◽  
British Colonialism ◽  
National Interests ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
British Military ◽  
Military Facilities ◽  
Of Greece

This article examines the process of decolonization of Cyprus and support of the Soviet Union in the struggle against British colonialism. The author substantiates why the case of Cyprus deserves special attention, and how its national characteristics alongside other factors, including the position of Great Britain, Greece, and Turkey impacted decolonization process of the island. It is underlined that the Soviet policy in support of national identity of the Cypriots, as demonstrated by diplomatic steps in the United Nations Security Council in 1954-1958, pursued two directions: weakening of British positions in the Eastern Mediterranean, and initiation of a split in relations between the two NATO members – Greece and Turkey, using their national interests in Cyprus. The unpublished Greek and Soviet materials served as methodological framework for this research. The author leans on the archival foreign policy materials of the Russian Federation, diplomatic and foreign policy archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Greece, as well as the Foundation of the Prime Minister of Greece Konstantinos Karamanlis. The use of vast array of sources on the three languages dedicated to the topic allowed concluding that the tactics of the Soviet Union pertinent to Cyprus question of 1953-1959, was ineffective, since the gap between Greece and Turkey and NATO has been overcome after signing the Cyprus Agreements of 1959. A sovereign Cyprus State within the framework of the Non-Aligned Movement, and political protection of the Cypriot Communists (the strongest Communist Party in the region), would be the best way for ensuring Soviet security, since these subjects could control the use of the British military facilities, and thus, expand Soviet influence in the region.

scholarly journals Levantinizing the Balkans: Outlines for a Literary Geography of Encounters

2020 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-82
Author(s):  
Guido Snel
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Spatial Mapping ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Literary Geography ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Etel Adnan

AbstractThe debate on the ‘where’ of the Balkans seem to be stuck between national paradigms and a nostalgia for cosmopolitanism. This essay explores an alternative spatial mapping of the region, opening it up to the wider Eastern-Mediterranean, in particular the fuzzy and contested notion of the Levant. First, it looks into various instances of ‘the Levant’ and ‘the Levantine,’ ranging from Turkish and Greek to Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian examples – with a particular focus on the latter. Secondly, by then ‘levantinizing’ the Balkans, in an explicit analogy to Édouard Glissant’s understanding of ‘creolization’ in the Caribbean, it attempts to draw the outlines of a geography of encounters. Finally, it offers a sample of what such a geography might look like and what its literary-historical repercussions might be, bringing together the work of Semezdin Mehmedinović and Etel Adnan.

scholarly journals Phylogeographic Structure of White Oaks Throughout the European Continent

Genetics ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 146 (4) ◽  
pp. 1475-1487 ◽  
Author(s):  
S Dumolin-Lapègue ◽  
B Demesure ◽  
S Fineschi ◽  
V Le Come ◽  
R J Petit
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Approach ◽  
Restriction Analysis ◽  
Phylogeographic Structure ◽  
White Oak ◽  
European Continent ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Mantel’S Test ◽  
Very High

Patterns of chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) variation were studied in eight white oak species by sampling 345 populations throughout Europe. The detection of polymorphisms by restriction analysis of PCR-amplified cpDNA fragments allowed the identification of 23 haplotypes that were phylogenetically ordered. A systematic hybridization and introgression between the eight species studied is evident. The levels of subdivision for unordered (G  ST) and ordered (N  ST) alleles are very high and close (0.83 and 0.85). A new statistical approach to the quantitative study of phylogeography is presented, which relies on the coefficients of differentiation G  ST and N  ST and the Mantel's test. Based on pairwise comparisons between populations, the significance of the difference between both coefficients is evaluated at a global and a local scale. The mapped distribution of the haplotypes indicates the probable routes of postglacial recolonization followed by oak populations that had persisted in southern refugia, especially in the Iberian peninsula, Italy and the Balkans. Most cpDNA polymorphisms appear to be anterior to the befinnina of the last recolonization. A subset of the preexisting haplotypes have merely expanded north, while others were left behind in the south.

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