The Revival of Balkanization
The Revival of Balkanization

Author: Martin Mendelski

Publisher:

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

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What impact does the European Union (EU) and other international donors have on the development of good governance in South Eastern Europe (SEE)? The comparative analysis shows that the externally-driven good governance reforms improve substantive legality (the alignment of domestic legislation with international best standards), state capacity and efficiency but weaken formal legality (the inner morality of law), many aspects of impartiality and the coherence of state structures and policies. As a result, good governance is undermined. To explain the persistence and reproduction of bad (i.e. fragmented) governance, the author offers a “vicious reform cycle” explanation, in which a fragmented governance structure is reproduced by competing and factionalized actors and by fragmented and politicized reform and policy processes. The implication is that externally-induced reforms, instead of allowing to transition towards good governance, are reproducing Balkanization and “bad governance”, i.e. fragmented, unaccountable, personalized and instable state structures, policies and formal rules. The main argument is supported by a mixed method study. A quantitative indicator-based analysis measures the development of good governance across six dimensions between 2003 and 2015. Qualitative interviews (with judicial and political representatives from SEE, the EU and international organizations), relevant data and secondary sources offer revealing insights on processes of hybridization and fragmentation.

The Roots of Balkanization
The Roots of Balkanization

Author: Ion Grumeza

Publisher: University Press of America

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 247

ISBN-13: 0761851348

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"Balkanization" is a modern term describing the fragmentation and re-division of countries and nations in the Balkan Peninsula, as well as a dynamic meaning "the Balkan way of doing things." The Roots of Balkanization describes the historical changes that took place in the Balkan Peninsula after the collapse of the Roman Empire and their impact in Eastern lands. It develops conclusions reached in the author's previous book, Dacia: Land of Transylvania, Cornerstone of Ancient Eastern Europe, covering 500 B.C.-A.D. 500. Balkan multi-ethnicity was formed after the fifth century, when barbarian invaders settled and violently mixed with the native ancient nations. By the use of sword and terror, warlords became kings and their confederations of tribes became state nations. New societies emerged under the blessing of the Orthodox Church, only to fight against each other over disputed land that eventually came to be occupied by other invaders. The involvement of western powers and the Ottoman expansion triggered more grievances and violence, culminating with the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and the end of the Byzantine Empire. The medieval culture of the Balkans survived and continues to play a major role in how business and political life is conducted today in Eastern Europe. Book jacket.

‘Balkanization’ and the Euro-Atlantic Processes of the (Western) Balkans
‘Balkanization’ and the Euro-Atlantic Processes of the (Western) Balkans

Author: Liridona Veliu Ashiku

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2024-08-30

Total Pages: 215

ISBN-13: 104012724X

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This book explores how ‘balkanization’ as a discourse underpins the policies of the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) toward the Western Balkans. It shows how EU and NATO policies have emerged from, and led to, the constant reinvention of the unity of the West through ‘balkanizing’ the region and illustrates how this dynamic is maintained by and instrumentalized for the political elites. Through a genealogical analysis that stretches from the Balkans Wars to more recent events such as North Macedonia’s change of name in 2018, the author shows how Western policies have aimed at recreating the united West on the back of the ‘broken’ Balkans. The book will appeal to scholars and students of Southeast Europe, International Relations, Political Science, Peace and Conflict Studies and History.

The Balkanization of the West
The Balkanization of the West

Author: Stjepan Mestrovic

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2004-08-02

Total Pages: 249

ISBN-13: 1134882602

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This book takes the lid off the confused Western response to the Balkan war. The author raises a series of timely and acute questions about the future of postmodernism and postcommunism.

Governance and Constitutionalism
Governance and Constitutionalism

Author: Bogdan Iancu

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-11-06

Total Pages: 206

ISBN-13: 1351798944

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This collection studies the rise of neutral bodies as a challenge to the constitutional paradigm of the nation state. Administrative entities such as commissions, agencies, councils, authorities or ‘independent agencies’ as they are sometimes known, are relatively autonomous from majoritarian democratic control and by their institutional design fall outside the classical triad of powers or branches of government. They may even fall outside the confines of the nation state itself as with the EU Commission. The book is divided into theoretical-historical and empirical parts. Part I approaches the phenomenon through the rigorous normative conceptual lens of constitutionalism and constitutional law, questioning the implications of political neutrality on inherited normative categories, both at national and supranational level. Part II comprises case-studies reflecting the full spectrum of theoretical frameworks and concerns developed and explored by the theory-oriented chapters in the first part. The work explores a wide range of issues including the balance between autonomy, legitimacy and accountability, the taxonomy of agencies, the role and limits of expertise as a paramount justification for independence, ‘agentification’ as a result of internationalisation, and ‘agentification’ as a reflex and consequence of transnational polity-building within the EU.

Balkan Departures
Balkan Departures

Author: Wendy Bracewell

Publisher: Berghahn Books

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 182

ISBN-13: 9781845452544

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In writings about travel, the Balkans appear most often as a place travelled to. Western accounts of the Balkans revel in the different and the exotic, the violent and the primitive − traits that serve (according to many commentators) as a foil to self-congratulatory definitions of the West as modern, progressive and rational. However, the Balkans have also long been travelled from. The region's writers have given accounts of their travels in the West and elsewhere, saying something in the process about themselves and their place in the world. The analyses presented here, ranging from those of 16th-century Greek humanists to 19th-century Romanian reformers to 20th-century writers, socialists and 'men-of-the-world', suggest that travellers from the region have also created their own identities through their encounters with Europe. Consequently, this book challenges assumptions of Western discursive hegemony, while at the same time exploring Balkan 'Occidentalisms'.

European Societies
European Societies

Author: Thomas Boje

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-03-07

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 1134640250

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Are the recent developments in Europe bringing countries together or pulling them apart? The leading experts in this book (including Sheila Allen, Marlis Buchmann, Piotr Sztompka, and Patrick Ziltener) cover a wide range of subjects, including the move towards political democracy and market economy in Central and Eastern societies, the project of the European Union, ethnic conflict, the rise of nationalism, social exclusion and women's role in public life.

Scaling the Balkans
Scaling the Balkans

Author: Maria N. Todorova

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2018-09-11

Total Pages: 683

ISBN-13: 9004382305

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Scaling the Balkans puts in conversation several fields that have been traditionally treated as discrete: Balkan studies, Ottoman studies, East European studies, and Habsburg and Russian studies. By looking at the complex interrelationship between countries and regions, demonstrating how different perspectives and different methodological approaches inflect interpretations and conclusions, it insists on the heuristic value of scales. The volume is a collection of published and unpublished essays, dealing with issues of modernism, backwardness, historical legacy, balkanism, post-colonialism and orientalism, nationalism, identity and alterity, society-and nation-building, historical demography and social structure, socialism and communism in memory, and historiography.