The EU’s stability-democracy dilemma in the context of the problematic accession of the Western Balkan states
The accession of the remaining six Western Balkan states into the EU is shrouded in much uncertainty. Despite Croatia finally traversing the difficult path to eventual membership in 2013, not one of the remaining Western Balkan countries can claim to be on a definite pathway to membership today. An...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Routledge
2020
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/63474/ |
| _version_ | 1848800023662297088 |
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| author | Smith, Nicholas Ross Markovic-Khaze, Nina Kovacevic, Maja |
| author_facet | Smith, Nicholas Ross Markovic-Khaze, Nina Kovacevic, Maja |
| author_sort | Smith, Nicholas Ross |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | The accession of the remaining six Western Balkan states into the EU is shrouded in much uncertainty. Despite Croatia finally traversing the difficult path to eventual membership in 2013, not one of the remaining Western Balkan countries can claim to be on a definite pathway to membership today. An increasingly prevalent argument is that the EU’s engagement with its neighbourhoods has faltered because its strategies have been undermined by an inherent stability-democracy dilemma. This article examines the EU’s engagement with the Western Balkans and finds that although the EU tried to transcend this dilemma, in reality, a tension between stability and democracy was present with the former generally receiving more attention in policymaking. This led to not only a lack of tangible democratization amongst the Western Balkan states, but further uncertainty about their accession prospects. By 2018, it was clear that the EU’s engagement with the Western Balkans needed a rethink, resulting in a new approach: the ‘Six Flagship Initiatives’. However, given the apprehensiveness of some member states (especially France) coupled with the presence of outsiders such as Russia and China in the area, the accession prospects of the six non-EU Western Balkan states remains blurred. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:44:58Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-63474 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:44:58Z |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| publisher | Routledge |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-634742020-10-12T03:24:52Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/63474/ The EU’s stability-democracy dilemma in the context of the problematic accession of the Western Balkan states Smith, Nicholas Ross Markovic-Khaze, Nina Kovacevic, Maja The accession of the remaining six Western Balkan states into the EU is shrouded in much uncertainty. Despite Croatia finally traversing the difficult path to eventual membership in 2013, not one of the remaining Western Balkan countries can claim to be on a definite pathway to membership today. An increasingly prevalent argument is that the EU’s engagement with its neighbourhoods has faltered because its strategies have been undermined by an inherent stability-democracy dilemma. This article examines the EU’s engagement with the Western Balkans and finds that although the EU tried to transcend this dilemma, in reality, a tension between stability and democracy was present with the former generally receiving more attention in policymaking. This led to not only a lack of tangible democratization amongst the Western Balkan states, but further uncertainty about their accession prospects. By 2018, it was clear that the EU’s engagement with the Western Balkans needed a rethink, resulting in a new approach: the ‘Six Flagship Initiatives’. However, given the apprehensiveness of some member states (especially France) coupled with the presence of outsiders such as Russia and China in the area, the accession prospects of the six non-EU Western Balkan states remains blurred. Routledge 2020-09-14 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en cc_by https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/63474/1/The%20EU%20s%20stability%20democracy%20dilemma%20in%20the%20context%20of%20the%20problematic%20accession%20of%20the%20Western%20Balkan%20states.pdf Smith, Nicholas Ross, Markovic-Khaze, Nina and Kovacevic, Maja (2020) The EU’s stability-democracy dilemma in the context of the problematic accession of the Western Balkan states. Journal of Contemporary European Studies . pp. 1-15. ISSN 1478-2804 Stability; democracy; EU foreign policy; Western Balkans democratization; EU enlargement http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14782804.2020.1823823 doi:10.1080/14782804.2020.1823823 doi:10.1080/14782804.2020.1823823 |
| spellingShingle | Stability; democracy; EU foreign policy; Western Balkans democratization; EU enlargement Smith, Nicholas Ross Markovic-Khaze, Nina Kovacevic, Maja The EU’s stability-democracy dilemma in the context of the problematic accession of the Western Balkan states |
| title | The EU’s stability-democracy dilemma in the context of the problematic accession of the Western Balkan states |
| title_full | The EU’s stability-democracy dilemma in the context of the problematic accession of the Western Balkan states |
| title_fullStr | The EU’s stability-democracy dilemma in the context of the problematic accession of the Western Balkan states |
| title_full_unstemmed | The EU’s stability-democracy dilemma in the context of the problematic accession of the Western Balkan states |
| title_short | The EU’s stability-democracy dilemma in the context of the problematic accession of the Western Balkan states |
| title_sort | eu’s stability-democracy dilemma in the context of the problematic accession of the western balkan states |
| topic | Stability; democracy; EU foreign policy; Western Balkans democratization; EU enlargement |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/63474/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/63474/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/63474/ |