The Sociology of Global Politics and the Regional Future of the Balkans Cover Image

The Sociology of Global Politics and the Regional Future of the Balkans
The Sociology of Global Politics and the Regional Future of the Balkans

Author(s): Emilian R Kavalski
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences
Published by: Универзитет у Нишу
Keywords: accession; Balkans; neoliberal constructivism; networked polity; international order; political imagination; regionalism; security community;

Summary/Abstract: The current discourse of globalisation overlooks the nascent interdependence of the world it helps create. The awareness of global society posits a challenge to traditional identification. In the Balkans it has introduced internal and internal divisions in order to achieve identity-security and protection. However, this article explores recent scholarship into the sociology of international relations, and suggests a possible model for breaking-up with the present stasis of meaning in the region. The investigation revisits and redefines the concept of order as a pattern of self-sustaining predictability based on its three aspects: solidarity, regulation and security. This exploration propounds neoliberal constructivism as the locution for outlining Southeast European order as security community. The objective of these theoretical considerations is to inform regional policy-taking and decision-making with prospects from co-operation and community-building in the process of accession to Euroatlantic structures (i.e. EU and NATO). The viability of collective Balkan identity in this process can be maintained by political imagination, a form of rhetorical praxis, which stands for the representational force that regulates the security community. The implication is that although today, the Southeastern Europe is a hackneyed term for instability, the sociology of global politics offers an option for peaceful coexistence in the region.

  • Issue Year: 2002
  • Issue No: 09
  • Page Range: 639-655
  • Page Count: 17
  • Language: English