Democratization in the Western Balkans: all in the name of EU Enlargement?

Democratization in the Western Balkans: all in the name of EU Enlargement?

European Integration and Transformation in the Western Balkans: Europeanization or business as usual?

The Thessaloniki Summit of 2003 offered perspective to all countries of the Western Balkans to become members of the European Union once they meet necessary conditions. To facilitate the Western Balkans’ accession, the EU has devised specific instruments in addition to those already part of the enlargement strategy. The reason for tailor-making efforts stems from concerns over stability in the ...

Informal Patient Payments and Bought and Brought Goods in the Western Balkans – A Scoping Review

Introduction Informal patient payments for healthcare are common in the Western Balkans, negatively affecting public health and healthcare.   Aim To identify literature from the Western Balkans on what is known about informal patient payments and bought and brought goods, to examine their effects on healthcare and to determine what actions can be taken to tackle these payments.   Methods After ...

The European Union and State Building in the Western Balkans

This paper examines the feasibility of network governance in the context of the EU's expansion in the Western Balkans. The EU is formally committed to promoting network governance but the realities of enlargement require the creation of effective states, in other words of the primacy of hierarchy over network. Networks are created in enlargement and reflect the complexities of public policy but...

Turkish Interests and Involvement in the Western Balkans: A Score-Card

159 T urkey’s increasingly assertive engagement in the Western Balkans leaves many people wondering about the purpose of such activism. Javier Solana, the former EU High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy (1999–2009), emphasized in a recent article for the Serbian daily Danas the need for cooperation between the EU and Turkey in order to achieve a permanent solution in Bosnia...