Value-oriented aspects of EU-isation: the case of the Balkans

Author(s):  
Monika Eriksen

In the case of the Balkans, Monika Eriksen shows us that EU-isation is dependent on how far it accords with domestic narratives. Croatia and Serbia experience it differently to other Balkan states, for example. This chapter raises the question of how far EU-isation can fundamentally change values and promote an EU-defined European identity when it confronts other local identities such as Balkan identity

Human Affairs ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mishel Pavlovski

AbstractBy questioning the ways in which a supra-national European identity can be created in an environment of globalization, this article starts with the thesis that this concept faces problems which must be resolved first and foremost at the national level. By problematizing multiculturalism as a “utopian theory” which does not solve any problems at the practical level, and by viewing interculturalism as a potential danger to “smaller” cultures, this article identifies what it is that hinders the possible acceptance of the idea of a Europe without borders by analyzing plays by Goran Stefanovski. In four of his plays, Euralien, Hotel Europa, Ex-Yu, and Goce, Stefanovski criticizes Western Europe, on the one hand, for constructing a problematic Other, imposing a visa regime, and contributing to its marginalization, and the Balkans on the other, for mythologizing its nationally-romanticized narrative. The paper sheds light on the fact that the acceptance of a common (shared) European identity, a necessity which propagates itself amidst conditions of globalization, is dependent on the ways in which Europe will resolve its problems, such as the marginalization of the Other, way of thinking in binary oppositions, like old/new Europe, rich/poor Europe, and especially (talking about Balkan countries) the phrase South-East Balkan.


Author(s):  
Stefanos Katsikas

Drawing from a wide range of primary archival and secondary Greek, Bulgarian, and Turkish sources, the book explores the way the Muslim populations of Greece were ruled by state authorities from Greece’s political emancipation from the Ottoman Empire in the 1820s up to the country’s entrance into World War II, in October 1940. In particular, the book examines how state rule influenced the development of the Muslim populations’ collective identity as a minority and how it affected Muslim relations with the Greek authorities, Greek Orthodox Christians, and other ethnic and religious groups. Greece was the first country to become an independent state in the Balkans and a pioneer in experimenting with minority issues. With regards to its Muslim populations, Greece’s ruling framework, and many of the country’s state administrative measures and patterns were to serve as a template at a later stage in other Christian Orthodox Balkan states with Muslim minorities (e.g., Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Cyprus): Muslim religious officials were empowered with authorities they did not have in Ottoman times, and aspects of Islamic law (sharia) were incorporated into the state legal system to be used for Muslim family and property affairs. The book shows that these and any policies can be ambivalent and cannot be a guide to present-day solutions. It also argues that religion remained a defining element and that religious nationalism and public institutions played an important role in the development of religious and ethnic identity.


Author(s):  
Goran Ilik

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.


Author(s):  
Maria Koinova

This chapter and the following Chapter 5 are interconnected as they both discuss Albanian diaspora mobilizations. This chapter lays out political dynamics in the Albanian transnational social field and presents the profiles of the four types of diaspora entrepreneurs that operate within it. Incomplete nation-building and state-building processes have left Albanians scattered throughout the Balkans since the early twentieth century, where they currently live as either majorities or minorities. Weak state capacities of Kosovo alongside those of adjacent fragile states, as well as problematic treatment of Albanians where they are minorities, most notably North Macedonia and Serbia, have created dynamics conducive for Albanians to emigrate from the region and mobilize in the diaspora. Kosovo’s independence was a goal not simply for Albanians from Kosovo but was widespread among other diaspora Albanians until the 2008 independence. Albanians socialized with each other in the diaspora, irrespective of their original homeland, thereby forging bonds and seeking Kosovo’s statehood through a transnational social field perspective. More recently, another field-wide idea has emerged, of an ‘Albanian space’ formed through the EU integration of Balkan states with Albanian populations. This chapter presents data on migration in the Albanian field, in the Balkans and globally, and specifies the individual profiles of Albanian diaspora entrepreneurs.


Author(s):  
S. Rıdvan Karluk

After the dispersion of the Soviet Union, the European Union embarked upon an intense relationship with the Central and Eastern European Countries. The transition into capital market and democratization of these countries had been supported by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs at the beginning of 1989 before the collapse of the Soviet Union System. The European Agreements were signed between the EU and Hungary, Poland, and Czechoslovakia on December 16th, 1991. 10 Central and Eastern Europe Countries became the members of the EU on May 1st, 2004. With the accession of Bulgaria and Romania into the EU on January 1st, 2007, the number of the EU member countries reached up to 27, and finally extending to 28 with the membership of Croatia to the EU on July 1st, 2013. Removing the Western Balkan States, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, and Bosnia and Herzegovina from the scope of external relations, the EU included these countries in the enlargement process in 2005.The European Commission has determined 2014 enlargement policy priorities as dealing with the fundamentals on preferential basis. In this context, the developments in the Balkans will be closely monitored within the scope of a new approach giving priority to the superiority of law. The enlargement process of the EU towards the Balkans and whether or not the Western Balkan States will join the Union will be analyzed.


2020 ◽  
pp. 39-42
Author(s):  
Sergey Asaturov ◽  
Andrei Martynov

The choice between modern nation-building and integration into supranational European and Euro-Atlantic structures remains a strategic challenge for the Balkan countries. Success in solving this problem of predominantly mono-ethnic Croatia and Slovenia has not yet become a model to follow. Serbian and Albanian national issues cannot be resolved. Serbia's defeat in the Balkan wars of 1991–1999 over the creation of a "Greater Serbia" led to the country's territorial fragmentation. Two Albanian national states emerged in the Balkans. Attempts to create a union of Kosovo and Albania could turn the region into a whirlpool of ultra-nationalist contradictions. The European Union has started accession negotiations with Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Northern Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro. The success of these negotiations depends on the readiness of the EU and the ability of these Balkan states to adopt European norms and rules. The accession of all Balkan nation-states to the European Union must finally close the "Balkan window" of the vulnerability of the united Europe. Nation-building in the Balkans on the basis of ethnic nationalism sharply contradicts the purpose and current values of the European integration process. For more than three decades, the EU has been pursuing a policy of human rights, the rule of law, democracy and economic development in the Balkans. The region remains vulnerable to the influences of non-European geopolitical powers: the United States, Russia, Turkey, and China. The further scenario of the great Balkan geopolitical game mainly depends on the pro-European national consolidation of the Balkan peoples and the effectiveness of the European Union's strategy in the Balkans.


2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-77
Author(s):  
O. V. Sharan

The article firstly identifies and reveales the essence of national and international political mechanisms of suppression of separatism that have been applied in the Balkan states, in particular, in Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The national mechanisms of suppression of separatism include legal, financial, administrative, information mechanisms, and among the international political mechanisms are international legal mechanisms, the mechanism of recognition or non-recognition of the independence of new states, international financial and economic instruments. The study showed the dynamics of the most important events that took place in the Balkans after the collapse of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, in particular during the Croatian War of Independence in 1991-1995, the Bosnian War in 1992–1995, and during Kosovo’s struggle for independence from Serbia. The revival of separatist movements in the Balkan Peninsula began as a result of the overthrow of the communist regimes and the strengthening of centrifugal tendencies in Central and Eastern Europe in the 90’s of the twentieth century. The interethnic distrust and constant tension became one of the reasons for the beginning of the civil wars in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina after the collapse of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Moreover, the article characterized the concept of «Great Albania», which involves the reunification of all the territories where the Albanian ethnic group lives. Several regions of Macedonia, Montenegro, the Epirus region in Greece and Kosovo should be part of the «Greater Albania». Furthermore, the study considers the experience of suppression of separatism of Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, the possibility of its use in Ukraine and other countries where separatist tendencies dominate, in order to avoid human victims, preserve territorial integrity and inviolability of borders. Consequently, separatism is a dangerous phenomenon that contains an enormous threat to the national security and territorial integrity, since it is related to the change of borders of the existing states and creation of the new countries on the political map of the world.


2015 ◽  
pp. 115-124
Author(s):  
Victor Friedman

The Balkan Sprachbund in the Republic of Macedonia Today: “Eurology” as Discontinuity and Dialectology as ContinuityIn the article, I attempt to uphold the thesis about the continuity of the processes which gave rise to the phenomenon of the Balkan linguistic league. I argue that these processes are very much alive in today’s Republic of Macedonia and in other Balkan states. I develop my thesis drawing on examples from modern languages: Macedonian, Albanian, Aromanian, and Romani in its urban variation spoken in modern Republic of Macedonia. However, while in all other Balkan states the classic Balkan multilingualism is present as a distinctive feature on the local level, in Macedonia it is manifest both on the local level and in the cities. I thus point out the need for dialectological research in urban and multilingual rural sites so as to overcome the limitations of classic dialectology, with its historic-nationalist, monolingual focus. Only the former type of research allows for the study of language contact as the source of language change. Finally, I emphasise the fact that the Balkan Sprachbund assumed its present form in a period when what became the core of the EU was divided into dozens of mini-states, while in the Ottoman state, as Olivera Jašar-Nasteva said, you could travel the whole territory of the Empire with one document (teskere). This means that the idea of creating a unified linguistic alliance with the centre constituted by the “old” EU member states and the Balkans as its periphery is a product of contemporary political situation, not of the historical context which enabled the emergence of the Balkan Sprachbund.Bałkańska liga językowa w Republice Macedonii dziś: „eurologia” jako nieciągłość i dialektologia jako ciągłośćW niniejszym artykule staram się podtrzymać tezę o ciągłości funkcjonowania procesów, które wykreowały fenomen bałkańskiej ligi językowej i ich żywotności na terytorium dzisiejszej Republiki Macedonii, a także na obszarze pozostałych bałkańskich państw. Tezę tę dokumentuję poprzez przykłady zaczerpnięte ze współczesnych języków, macedońskiego, albańskiego, arumuńskiego i romskiego w miejskim wariancie na terytorium dzisiejszej Republiki Macedonii. O ile jednak klasyczna bałkańska wielojęzyczność jest obecna jako cecha dystynktywna we wszystkich państwach bałkańskich na poziomie lokalnym, to w Macedonii jest to cecha występująca zarówno na poziomie lokalności, jak i w miastach. W związku z tym, w artykule wskazuję na potrzebę badań dialektologicznych w miastach i wielojęzycznych wsiach, a nie tylko na poziomie klasycznej dialektologii z jej narodowo-historycznym i jednojęzycznym ukierunkowaniem, jako że tylko w tych pierwszych można zbadać źródłowe rezultaty kontaktu językowego. Wreszcie podkreślam fakt, że bałkańska liga językowa swój dzisiejszy obraz osiągnęła w czasie, kiedy Zachód, zwłaszcza zaś obszar jądra dzisiejszej Unii Europejskiej, był podzielony na osobne jednostki polityczne, tymczasem po terytorium Imperium Osmanów podróżowało się, jak podkreśla Oliviera Jašar-Nasteva, z jednym dokumentem podróży (teskere). Oznacza to, że idea stworzenia jednego europejskiego językowego sojuszu z centrum w obrębie "starych" państw-członków Unii Europejskiej i Bałkanami jako jego peryferiami jest płodem współczesnej sytuacji politycznej, nie zaś historycznego kontekstu, który umożliwił powstanie bałkańskiej ligi językowej.Балканcки јазичен cојуз во Република Македонија денеc: „eурологија” како неконтинуитет и диjалектологија како континуитетCо примери од cовремените македонcки, албанcки, влашки, и ромcки градкcи говори во Република Македонија, во оваа cтатија cе докажува дека процеcите што го cоздадоа балканcкиот јазичен cојуз во минатото cе уште функционираaт во Република Македонија, како и во другите балканcки земјии. Cепак, додека клаcичната балканcка многујазичноcт cе уште cе наоѓа во cекоја балканcка земја, таа поcтои повеќе на локалното ниво во другите земји додека во Македонија таа cе уште е доcта раcпроcтранета, оcобено во градовите. Во врcка cо тоа, во cтатијата cе наcочува кон фактот дека заедно cо клаcична дијалектологија cо нејзината национална и еднојазично-иcториcка ориентаcија, има потреба и за дијалектологија на градовите и многујазични cела, затоа што точно во тие контекcти ги забележуваме изворните резултатите на јазичен контакт. Најпоcле, иcто така cе наcочува кон фактот дека балканcкиот јазичен cојуз го добиваше неговиот cовремен образ точно во времето кога во западна Европа, оcобено во териториите кои поcле cтануваат јадрото на Европcката Унија, поcтојуваше огромна политичка фрагментација додека во Оcманcката Империја, како што велеше Оливера Јашар-Наcтева, cе патуваше низ целиот полуоcтров cо едно теcкере. Значи идеата на еден европcки јазичен cојуз cо центар во јадрото на cегашната Европcка Унија и cо Балканот на периферијата е повеќе cоздадена од cовремената политчка cитуација, а не одговара на иcтроиcките околноcти нa балканcкиот јазичен cојуз.


2019 ◽  
pp. 23-49
Author(s):  
Wojciech Szczepański

Abstrakt: Napięte stosunki między Federacją Rosyjską a Zachodem, konflikty, wyraźnie interpretowane jako wojna hybrydowa prowadzona przez Rosjan w krajach, w których interesy Rosji i Zachodu zderzają się (głównie na Ukrainie), kwestionują skalę i rodzaj rosyjskiego zaangażowania na Bałkanach - obszarze tradycyjnego wielowymiarowego konfliktu między Wschodem i Zachodem, w którym destabilizacja stanowi klucz do odbudowy równowagi sił w całej Europie Środkowej. Artykuł analizuje formy rosyjskiej obecności w krajach bałkańskich - zwłaszcza na obszarze post-jugosłowiańskim - działalność gospodarczą rosyjskich służb specjalnych, wywiadowcze operacje ofensywne w Serbii, Czarnogórze, Macedonii, powiązania Moskwy z procesami politycznymi i wojną medialną sprzyjającą radykalizacji społecznej i wzrostowi nastrojów prorosyjskich. Abstract: Currently strained relations between the Russian Federation and the West, conflicts clearly interpreted as hybrid warfare led by the Russians in countries in which the interests of Russia and the West (mainly Ukraine) are overwhelming, question the scale and type of Russian involvement in the Balkans - the area of traditional multidimensional conflict between East and West, in whose destabilization lies the key to the reconstruction of the balance of power throughout Central Europe. The article examines the forms of Russian presence in the Balkan states - especially post-Yugoslavian - Russia's economic activity of its special services, intelligence offensive operations in Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia in the last few years, Moscow's links with political processes and the targeting of media messages favouring social radicalization and increase in pro-Russian moods.


2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-214
Author(s):  
Silviu-Marian Miloiu

The Romanian Association for Baltic and Nordic Studies continued to organize in 2012 a series of events, one of the most meaningful of which was the third international conference on Baltic and Nordic Studies entitled European networks: the Balkans, Scandinavia and the Baltic world in a time of economic and ideological crisis opened on 25 May at Valahia University of Târgoviște and sponsored by the Romanian National Research Council, Niro Investment Group and other partners (http://www.arsbn.ro/conference-2012.htm). The main goal of the conference was to foster debate and academic discussion with regard to the challenges the Balkan and Baltic regions face today, within a time of severe global economic instability. The participants discussed and advanced solutions to problems such as the accession of Balkan states to the EU and/or NATO, with particular reference to the experiences of the relatively new EU and/or NATO Member States from South-Eastern Europe and the Eastern Baltic region; the economic, security or cultural threats posed by Balkan and/or Eastern European states or non-state actors to the Western or Nordic Europe as perceived there; the development of extremist movements and the Balkan organized crime in the Scandinavian countries; the Balkan Roma peoples as a “threat” for Western and Nordic Europe; strategies for integrating minorities in the Baltic Sea rim countries and the Black Sea areas.


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