European New Colonialism
European New Colonialism

Summary/Abstract: The paper provides an analysis of political discourse referring to the process of EU accession of the countries of the “Western Balkans”, formed both within the EU institutions and by political elites in the European states. It positions these discourses into broader framework of discursive constructions of Other and Otherness in the symbolic geography of Europe. It highlights mechanisms through which the existing and easily recognizable patterns of exclusion, such as colonial discourse, are deployed in the new context in which some countries are already members of the European Union while others strive for the membership. Division of Europe based on membership in the European Union, colonial discourse became “available” to all EU members, regardless of their historical legacies, while “the Western Balkans” became object of pseudo-colonial consideration. In this process, historical legacies that are characteristic of Europe and its Southeastern part are selectively chosen, emphasized or tabooed, depending on ways in which political elites of particular European states negotiate their position and role within contemporary Europe.

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