Europeanisation Faces Balkanisation: Political Conditionality and Democratisation - Croatia and Macedonia in Comparative Perspective
Europeanisation Faces Balkanisation: Political Conditionality and Democratisation - Croatia and Macedonia in Comparative Perspective

Summary/Abstract: The European Union’s (EU) experience with Bulgaria and Romania, whose fragmented reform process has stalled post-accession, has prompted it to re-evaluate its approach toward candidate countries. The western Balkans experience enhanced EU political conditionality focusing on democratic state-building and regional cooperation. The literature on democratisation is largely in agreement over the positive effects of enlargement-led Europeanisation, but in the western Balkans the EU faces unprecedented challenges. It has to balance concerns related to security and regional instability with its requirements for accession. Taking Croatia and Macedonia as case studies, this paper looks at the impact of political conditionality on democratic consolidation in the western Balkans. As the only two countries in the region granted accession and candidate status respectively, these states provide relevant insights into the interplay between domestic and EU factors in fostering reforms. The paper relies on Freedom House democracy scores from the signing of the Stabilisation and Association Agreements of the two countries in 2001 to the end of 2010. It traces variation in these scores back to domestic events, thus identifying challenges that affect the fulfilment of the required EU reforms. It simultaneously tests the argument that EU incentives no longer meet the needs of this region.

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