THE WESTERN BALKANS: THE FATE OF AN EUROPEAN PERIPHERY

ĐUKANOVIĆ Dr Dragan (Autor je viši naučni saradnik u Institutu za međunarodnu politiku i privredu, Beograd), dragandjuk@yahoo.co

The paper analyzes what is the current position of the Western Balkans in the context of contemporary European trends and events. The author considers the European and Euro-Atlantic integration a certain attempt to “relocate” the whole region of the Western Balkans from an obvious periphery to a semi-periphery position. The focus of analysis is on numerous problems such as continued revitalization of the local ethno-nationalisms, structural economic crisis, the presence of high levels of organized crime and corruption. The author points out that, so far, numerous attempts of the most influential members of the international community primarily the United States and the European Union have failed to promote the improvement of the relations between new-formed countries and to establish a sort of regional identity. The author argues that the creation of the antagonistic identities of the states and nations of the Western Balkans during the breakup of the former Yugoslav federation was the main obstacle to the creation of the common identity. The author concludes that, in view of the new growing trends of ethnic nationalisms and certain forms of extremism and radicalism, the “relocation” of the Western Balkans from European periphery to the semi-periphery will not be short-term or easy, as evidenced by numerous internal problems and problems in bilateral relations.

Keywords: Western Balkans, Europe, the European Union, periphery, semi-periphery, ethnic nationalism, the economic crisis