Thematic focus: Stability and European Integration in Southeastern Europe (Editors: Naida Mehmedbegovic Dreilich and Patricia Schneider)

Already in 2003, the EU had decided upon the next big goalof EU expansion; the integration of further states, particularly that of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia. Finally, in July 2011 the European Commission announced that on the 1st of July 2013, Croatia will be the 28th member country to join the EU. But the accession of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia can only take place once their economic situation is improved and ethnic tensions reduced. In particular Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina struggle to adhere to the special regulations which are essential preconditions for further EU accession negotiations. For Serbia, this means facing its role in the Yugoslavs wars. Through its extradition of war criminals Ratko Mladic´ and Goran Hadžic´, Serbia hopes to have improved its chances of accession.
For Bosnia and Herzegovina, the state currently stands at the crossroads despite massive influence from the international community. The rotation of political and administrative posts along ethnic lines and the continued presence of international actors have mainly led to shirked responsibility and little progress being achieved through political solutions. The parties score points in election campaigns with symbolic actions and nationalist slogans. Until now it lacks the urgently needed constitutional reform.
Numerous actors, including UN, NATO, EU, political foundations, NGOs and aid organizations, as well as individual states in bilateral relations, have tried with an enormous expenditure of resources to stabilize Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo for good – yet with a mixed record. However, the states chronic instability threatens their collapse and thus a renewed outbreak of violence affecting the entire region. This development could also impede the already initiated gradual withdrawal of international troops.
This issue covers individual, country-specific considerations that affect the stability and European integration in Southeastern Europe. These aspects are examined both through country studies (individually or in comparison) of candidate countries and their regional relations, as well as through analyses of potential influence by external actors.
Theresa Toeglhofer and Natasha Wunsch address in the first contribution the EU enlargement policy in the Western Balkans, and examine the Stabilization and Association process in Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia.
In the second article, Daniel Goeler and Kristina Kurze examine the connection between an energy community and the reconciliation process in the Western Balkans. The authors conclude that in the area of energy cooperation the history of conflicts, could gradually be replaced with a history of cooperation, at least at the working level.
Anne Jenichen examines Europeanization “from below” on the example of gender equality policies in the Western Balkans. The author argues that the EU should accord more weight to gender equality and women’s rights in negotiations with states in the Western Balkans. In the meantime, all Western Balkan states except Kosovo were put on the so-called “Schengen white list” that is granting visa-free travel to the EU for its citizens. Tobias Flessenkemper and Tobias Butow examine the EU visa liberalization towards the countries of the Western Balkans as a stabilization measure. They criticize the inability of the Union to uniformly recognize Kosovo’s independence, which led to an uneven visa liberalization policy towards the region.
The second author who addresses the problematic Kosovo issue is Valeska Esch. In her article she raises the question if the EU is losing its influence in Kosovo. She demonstrates the difficulties caused by the different recognition practices and parallel UN/EU structures, in particular for Serbian neighborhood relations. Judith Hoffman analyzes electoral reforms in Albania as an example of the limits of Europeanization through institutional reforms. In Albania, the goal of “free and fair elections” has only partially been achieved, and the various regulations were exploited by parties for their own benefit.
The next two articles deal with the implementation of minority rights in the region. While Henriette Heimbach examines the effectiveness of external democratization of the EU with the example of the Sandžak region of Serbia, Goran Bandov addresses the development of minority rights in Croatia since its independence. Both pay particular attention to problems involved with implementation of minority rights.
Thorsten Gromes pursues the question if the prospect of EU membership has fostered the stabilization of Macedonia, and concludes that the prospect of membership has had a positive overall impact. However, the naming dispute with Greece has hindered the further promotion of democracy in the country. Finally, Jelena Juvan examines the role of Slovenia in the stabilization process and in the promotion of integration and regional security in Southeastern Europe. She argues that despite historical links in the region, the new EU member Slovenia has so far not been able to demonstrate its ability to take on a credible leading and mediating role in this process.

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Call for Papers

S+F invites authors to submit suitable papers for publication

S+F is the leading German journal for peace research and security policy. S+F aims to serve as a forum of analysis, insider reports and opinion pieces for research and politics linking civil society and the armed forces. Decisions on publication are made on the basis of the contribution of a text to national and international discussions on peace and security issues, considering scientific aspects of arms control to questions of nation-building in post-war societies. Every issue of S+F is focused on a particular theme. In addition, texts addressing general aspects of peace and security research are also published. Authors can choose to have the text evaluated by the publisher and editorial team or by an external evaluation process (double-blind peer-review), the latter is more time intensive (for the evaluation process, revision, etc.). S+F intends to increase the number of externally evaluated contributions but will continue to publish texts which have been assessed by the editorial team and the publisher responsible for the issue. The “deadlines” listed below are for contributions for a specific theme. Contributions on other topics can be made at any time.

Call for Papers/ Publisher and editorial team call for contributions

The next issues of S+F will have the following themes:

• 3/2012: Developing National Security Strategies, Deadline 15 January 2012
• 4/2012: Conflicts in Africa: Regional and international Dimensions, Deadline 1 June 2012
  
• 1/2013: Non-State Armed Groups, Deadline 15 August 2012

Texts may be written in English or German and should be between 25,000-30,000 characters long (incl. spaces). Further information for authors can be found on the magazine website under “Notes to Authors”.

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Source: Dr. Patricia Schneider (IFSH)