EUROPEANIZATION EFFECTS: THE ROLE OF DOMESTIC ACTORS IN WESTERN BALKANS
EUROPEANIZATION EFFECTS: THE ROLE OF DOMESTIC ACTORS IN WESTERN BALKANS

Summary/Abstract: The economic sustainability as well as the EU accession process requires flexible and efficient institutions, policy frameworks and knowledge-based economy that can exploit new opportunities that emerge from rapid change such as globalization and EU Enlargement. The main questions to be addressed in this paper are: do international actors ensure the long term progress and reforms or does their functioning ensure stability and emergent solutions for these countries? Do local actors have an active role in the process and create a sustainable development. The paper identifies that in many of the Western Balkan countries international and domestic actors achieved to create a political stability but not a sustainable development and effective institutions. First, international actors faced many challenges in promoting effective policies due to their standard function in all of these countries. With regard to domestic actors, they failed in creating their own capacities due to high level of dependence on the international community. The current EU financial crisis has shown that candidate countries should fulfill EU criteria and develop local ownership in order to sustain economically and reduce negative spillover effects coming from globalization and Europeanization.

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