Turnover, Conditionality, and Europeanization in the Western Balkans

Abstract

The EU accession process in the Balkans has gone from being a major force for political and economic change to being accused of promoting “stabilitocracy”, while deep societal problems in Western Balkans countries have become more entrenched. The EU’s global competitors have intensified their strategic engagement with the Western Balkans, and elite and mass interest in enlargement within the EU have waned. The length of the enlargement process has allowed for significant flux among the EU personnel who interface with regional peers. This paper examines the effects that such changes have had on conditionality in the Western Balkans with a focus on the application of conditionality in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where EU negotiators have been arrayed against much more stable local leadership, creating opportunities for regional and global opponents of liberal democracy.