Building Networks of Change in the Western Balkans

Building Networks of Change in the Western Balkans PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789294660169
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
For a region like the Western Balkans, where borders are still 'existential', cross-border networks function like agents of change by helping to redefine what is near and what is remote, what lies inside and what outside. Building on the integrative and transformative potential of networks, the EU has invested significant resources in improving the connectivity of the region. However, the connectivity infrastructure gap in the Western Balkans persists, leaving room for scepticism about the efficiency of infrastructure financing and building in the region. The paper looks into the reasons explaining this gap and points to the adverse impact of infrastructure politics on the efficient use of the existing resources. Against this background, it suggests a set of policy measures structured around three pillars: (i) capacity building as a barrier to the misuse of infrastructure as a political tool, (ii) infrastructure financing tailored to specific needs and connected to the removal of non-physical barriers, and (iii) enhancing the resilience of infrastructure networks.

Building Networks of Change in the Western Balkans

Building Networks of Change in the Western Balkans PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789294660169
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

Get Book Here

Book Description
For a region like the Western Balkans, where borders are still 'existential', cross-border networks function like agents of change by helping to redefine what is near and what is remote, what lies inside and what outside. Building on the integrative and transformative potential of networks, the EU has invested significant resources in improving the connectivity of the region. However, the connectivity infrastructure gap in the Western Balkans persists, leaving room for scepticism about the efficiency of infrastructure financing and building in the region. The paper looks into the reasons explaining this gap and points to the adverse impact of infrastructure politics on the efficient use of the existing resources. Against this background, it suggests a set of policy measures structured around three pillars: (i) capacity building as a barrier to the misuse of infrastructure as a political tool, (ii) infrastructure financing tailored to specific needs and connected to the removal of non-physical barriers, and (iii) enhancing the resilience of infrastructure networks.

State-building in the Western Balkans

State-building in the Western Balkans PDF Author: Soeren Keil
Publisher: Association for the Study of Nationalities
ISBN: 9781138377523
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 152

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Book Description
The Western Balkans have seen rapid changes since the end of the violent conflicts in the 1990s. The EU has been one of the main drivers for change, focusing on the political, economic and social transformation of the region to prepare the countries for membership in the Union. EU enlargement has never before been this complex and inter-connected with processes of state-building and democratization. It can be argued that the EU is actively involved in state-building. By focusing on a number of case-studies, it will be demonstrated how complex the transformation towards independent statehood and modern democratic governance has been (and continues to be) for most Western Balkan states. While some chapters focus explicitly on the role of the EU in these transformative procedures, others discuss the role of outside influences on state-building, democratization and independent governance more implicit. The picture painted is one of multiple and inter-connected alterations that have long-term consequences for the political systems of the region. This book was published as a special issue of Nationalities Papers.

Atlas of Challenges and Opportunities in European Neighbourhoods

Atlas of Challenges and Opportunities in European Neighbourhoods PDF Author: Pierre BECKOUCHE
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319285211
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
This atlas provides a macro-regional overview of the areas that surround the European Union, from the Sahara to the Middle East, Western Balkans to European Russia, Turkey to the Arctic. Detailing key socio-economic data as well as developmental trends, the maps provide a comprehensive territorial analysis at a local scale and explore the potential for regional integration and cooperation.These pioneering maps examine challenges that threaten this wide, yet inter-connected, region, including environmental concerns in the North, political unrest in the East, social factors in the Western Balkans, and the upheaval in the Mediterranean since the Arab spring. Coverage investigates such key countries and areas as Libya, Israel, Palestine, Syria, and the Ukraine as well as explores such essential issues as Europe’s energy procurement. In addition, it also presents a comparison with other world regions such as East Asia and North America.In the end, readers discover that territorial integration faces many shortcomings, but that deep regional cooperation would be a key driver for the EU’s sustainable future. This atlas features the main results of the “Integrated Territorial Analysis of the Neighbourhoods” research project undertaken by ESPON (The European Observation Network for Territorial Development and Cohesion). It provides scholars; local authorities and NGOs involved in cross-border cooperation; companies interested in energy, agriculture, water, transportation and communication; and interested readers with key insights into this important region.

Civil Society and Transitions in the Western Balkans

Civil Society and Transitions in the Western Balkans PDF Author: V. Bojicic-Dzelilovic
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137296259
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 285

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Book Description
This book explores the ambiguous role played by civil society in the processes of state-building, democratization and post-conflict reconstruction in the Western Balkans challenging the assumption that civil society is always a force for good by analysing civil society actors and their effects in post-communist and post-conflict transition.

European Integration and Transformation in the Western Balkans

European Integration and Transformation in the Western Balkans PDF Author: Arolda Elbasani
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136734139
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
The book investigates the scope and limitations of the transformative power of EU enlargement in the Western Balkans. The extension of EU enlargement policy to the region has generated high expectations that enlargement will regulate democratic institution-building and foster reform, much as it did in Central and Eastern Europe. However, there is very little research on whether and how unfavourable domestic conditions might mitigate the transformative power of the EU. This volume investigates the role of domestic factors, identifying ‘stateness’ as the missing link between the assumed transformative power of the EU and the actual capacity to adopt EU rules across the region. Including chapters on Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo, and Bosnia-Herzegovina, leading scholars in the field offer up-to-date comparative analysis of key areas of institutional and policy reform; including state bureaucracy, rule of law, electoral management, environmental governance, cooperation with the International Court of Justice, economic liberalization and foreign policy. Looking to the future and the implications for policy change, European Integration and Transformation in the Western Balkans provides a new theoretical and empirical focus on this little understood area. The book will be of interest to scholars and students of EU politics, comparative democratisation, post-communist transitions and Balkan area studies.

Poverty and Exclusion in the Western Balkans

Poverty and Exclusion in the Western Balkans PDF Author: Caterina Ruggeri Laderchi
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1461449456
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 301

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Book Description
​This book maps the latest developments in the policy relevant analysis on poverty, inclusion and the social agenda in the Western Balkans. It does so by presenting a selection of recent papers which explore from a methodological and analytical point of view how the inclusion agenda can be monitored and adapted to understand the challenges in the region. The volume includes an overview and four sections, covering respectively: (1) innovations in terms of measurement of poverty and inclusion in the region (the concept of inclusion as elaborated at the EU level, innovations in survey design to suit the measurement of inclusion, methodological insights from qualitative work); (2) innovative country level analysis (updating poverty mapping in inter-censual years, the analysis of material deprivation, the analysis of determinants of social inclusion, subjective wellbeing of public work programs participants); (3) examples of country level analysis of drivers of exclusion (barriers to formalization in the labour market, gender disparities in the labour market, disruption in social networks following urbanizations, attitudes towards multi-ethnic states); (4) building inclusive safety nets (an assessment of safety nets in the region, the political economy of welfare reform, micro-simulations of social assistance reform, the adoption of better tools to improve targeting performance). The chapters combine sophisticated techniques which are at the frontiers of poverty analysis (small area estimation, efficiency analysis applied to household welfare, micro-simulations) with less ground-breaking papers which take advantage of innovative datasets or perspectives deeply grounded in the policy dialogue in the countries of the region. By providing a wide spectrum of innovative and policy relevant analytical contributions this book will be of broader interest than for observers of the region. ​

Europe's Balkan Dilemma

Europe's Balkan Dilemma PDF Author: Adam Fagan
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 0857736388
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
Through the intervention of the European Union, the lives of people living in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Kosovo have been transformed beyond recognition. From the perspective of the Western Balkans today, the EU looks and acts like a development agency with a broad brief and deep pockets. Yet until the end of the twentieth century, external relations and foreign policy were minor aspects of EU activity. How and why has the role of the EU changed so dramatically and what does this reveal about the future development of the Balkan states? Europe's Balkan Dilemma offers the first comprehensive analysis of the impact of EU assistance and intervention in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Kosovo. Adam Fagan places the fundamental question of what has been achieved through the EU's increased involvement in the region in the context of the EU's ambitions in global security and conflict management beyond the Balkan states. Europe's Balkan Dilemma will be a vital resource not only for students of International Relations and European Studies but also for anyone involved in helping to equip this tumultuous region for the next phase in its eventful history.

An Agenda for the Western Balkans

An Agenda for the Western Balkans PDF Author: Nikolaos Papakostas
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 3838266986
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
The Western Balkan countries have been both a popular subject matter for diachronic analysis and a 1990s favorite. The significant changes that followed the most recent times of conflict in the region mostly evolve around the process of Europeanization. Despite the plethora of analyses, most approaches to the Western Balkans suffer from theoretical stagnancy, ex parte political practice, and detachment of politics from societal needs. This volume is the work of a team of theorists and practitioners who attempt a multidisciplinary approach to Western Balkans reality. An Agenda for the Western Balkans offers a critical view on issues that have been over-analyzed in mainstream terms and opens a discussion that will occupy researchers and practitioners for years to come. It addresses novel topics and engages in innovative approaches that cut across disciplines of social sciences (political science, international relations, sociology, historiography, geography, political economy) and levels of analysis (local, national, regional, European, global). This collection is a pioneer theoretical and practical guide towards a sustainable future for the Western Balkans.

Security Community Practices in the Western Balkans

Security Community Practices in the Western Balkans PDF Author: Sonja Stojanović Gajić
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1317058089
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 294

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Book Description
In the early 1990s, the Western Balkans were the scene of prolonged and bloody inter-ethnic wars. Numerous issues remain unresolved; Bosnia is a dysfunctional state; Kosovo a disputed territory; Macedonia a fragile republic, however, it is hard now to imagine the renewal of inter-state armed conflict. Investigating the causes and mechanisms driving peaceful transformation in the Balkans, this book examines developments in the region and contributes to discussions on security community building. Focusing on how different professional communities work together in the creation of regional peace and security, it sheds new light on how diplomats, policemen, soldiers and others brought about the transformation from conflict to peace through their everyday practices. Conducted collaboratively by a research community based within the region, this volume will be highly relevant to scholars and researchers studying the Balkans, regional security, security communities and policymakers.

A European Perspective for the Western Balkans

A European Perspective for the Western Balkans PDF Author: Hubert Isak
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Balkan Peninsula
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
Analyses the status quo of the process of integration of the Western Balkan countries in the European Union.