Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Western balkans'

Rozbor oficiálních stanovisek EU k rozšíření EU o země Západního Balkánu (Chorvatsko, Makedonie, Černá Hora, Albánie, BiH, Srbsko, nově Kosovo) ukazuje na zdrženlivost EU k vlastnímu aktu přijetí. Přes všechna prohlášení o vůli přijmout tyto země, tato vyjádření zůstávají spíše proklamací, bez vyhlášení konkrétních dat přijetí těchto zemí do společenství. Na rozdíl od Rakouska, která jako jediná země EU deklaruje co nejrychlejší rozšíření EU o země Západního Balkánu přímo ve vládním programu jako prioritu své zahraniční politiky. Motivace Rakouska je založena na důkladné ekonomické analýze situace, kdy Rakouské investice do těchto zemí jsou nejvyšší ze všech zemí EU. Mezi Rakouskem a zeměmi Západního Balkánu a Rakouskem probíhá čilý obchod i pohyb osob, na který ostatní země EU nejsou ještě připraveny. Překážkou rychlého přijetí se tedy jeví důvody povahy nikoliv ekonomické, ale politické. Evropská unie se shoduje na roku 2008 jako na roku klíčovém v přístupových jednáních. V době publikace této práce ovšem EU nebyla s to jako celek schválit nezávislost Kosova. Minimálně tento bod zůstává otevřen k dořešení v roce 2008 spolu s dalšími body týkajícími se příštího rozšíření. EU má v této chvíli (duben 2008) jasno, že favorizovanými kandidáty pro přístup jsou Chorvatsko, Makedonie a Albánie, zatím bez konkrétního data přístupu.

Thesis (M.A. in National Security Affairs)--Naval Postgraduate School, June 2003.
Thesis advisor(s): Donald Abenheim, Robert Looney. Includes bibliographical references (p. 81-88). Also available online.

In 1992, several thousand residents from northern Bosnia's Prijedor region were detained in the Omarska concentration camp, which was created and run on the site of an iron mine by the mine's own engineers, labourers and management. Often overlooked in discussions about the ethnoreligious nature of the Balkan conflict is the fact that Omarska's workers relied heavily on their technical knowledge (of organic compounds, geology and terrain, machinery) to generate new ways of concentrating and executing prisoners.
Anthropology

The construction of Southeastern Europe in Western imagination is the result of assertions of imperial power from some of the first recorded histories onward to modern time. Instead of providing alternative narratives gaping differences in time period, literary genres and geographical origins ballast stereotypical racist tropes and derogatory images of the countries of Southeastern Europe. For example, Roman histories, secondary historical works, twentieth century travel literature, and Central Intelligence Agency estimates all exhibit the same perception. The narrative created by these accounts is limited, remarkably racist and counterfactual. While there has been an abundance of new scholarship aimed at debunking the myths surrounding the area, much of the revisionist histories focus on placing blame, proving ethnogenesis, and serving political purposes. Understanding how the sources continue to influence perception is a pivotal step to understanding Southeastern Europe.

This thesis tries to provide valuable insight and explain the role of identity perceptions on security as a means to avert conflicts and security threats. The aim is to provide an identity based explanation to security problems. Constructivism and „social identity theory‟ are its theoretical points of departure which help us understand how we construct social identities and have the tendency to be prejudicial towards others. Our prejudices and negative identity perceptions play a major role in security issues. We will use process tracing to find how identity perceptions are constructed and how they affect security. More explicitly we will trace the process of how identities were affected by historical events as well as the ethnocentric interpretation of these historical events. For thorough analysis, Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia are chosen as case studies. The findings will hopefully propose better solutions to security problems and built knowledge applicable to other similar security threats.

The EU is assumed to have a strong top-down transformative power over the states applying for membership. But despite intensive research on the EU membership conditionality, the transformative power of the EU in itself has been left curiously understudied. This thesis seeks to change that, and suggests a model based on relational power to analyse and understand how the transformative power is seemingly weaker in the Western Balkans than in Central and Eastern Europe. This thesis shows that the transformative power of the EU is not static but changes over time, based on the relationship between the EU and the applicant states, rather than on power resources. This relationship is affected by a number of factors derived from both the EU itself and on factors in the applicant states. As the relationship changes over time, countries and even issues, the transformative power changes with it. The EU is caught in a path dependent like pattern, defined by both previous commitments and the built up foreign policy role as a normative power, and on the nature of the decision making procedures. This path dependent pattern prevents the EU from actively using its strongest tools when trying to influence and steer the applicant states regarding reforms and norm transfer, effectively weakening the transformative power. Evidence from elections in Albania and Macedonia show how the domestic electoral stakeholders actively can resist, and even prune, important norms and laws, on best electoral practice, a key feature for the democratic structures required for EU membership. It is also apparent how there are few domestic change agent strong enough to actively promote normative changes, leaving much of the work for the EU. The clientelistic structures of these countries are a key aspect in shaping interests and actions of the political elite. The result is that layers of old and new institutions are created, producing the mixed pattern of reforms observed all over the Western Balkans. By combining the findings at both the EU level and in the applicant states, this thesis makes both important empirical and theoretical contributions, challenging some core aspects of the Europeanisation literature.

Since the late 1990s there has been an increasing interest in the representation of Balkan culture in the literary works of authors writing in English. Scholars (Bakić-Hayden 1995, Todorova 1997, Goldsworthy 1998, Norris 1999, Hammond 2010) have shown how literary representations of the Balkans have reflected and reinforced its stereotypical construction as Europe’s “dark and untamed Other. However, the contribution of translated literature in the representation of these images has rarely been considered, and in particular that of children’s literature has been seriously neglected. Thus, this study of images of the Western Balkans in translated children’s literature published in the period of 1990 2013, adds a hitherto uncharted literary terrain to the Balkanist discourses and helps shed a new and more complete light on the literary representations of the Balkans, and the Western Balkans more precisely. Children’s literature has been selected for the scope of this study due to its potential to transform and change deeply rooted stereotypes. The study approaches translations as framing and representation sites that contest or promote stereotypes in the global literary market. English has been selected as a target language due to its global position as а mediating language for the promotion of international literature, and with that also carrying stereotypes and transmitting them efficiently. This study looks at the images embedded in the texts, both source and target, and their representation in translation, including the translator’s interventions, but even more at the level of paratexts, and especially in the use of illustrations. It also examines adaptations accompanying the presentation of the translated book into the target society, such as documentaries, music scores and theatre performances. The discussion also considers how a book is selected for translation, and how different production participants contribute in the whole process of translation, including their motivations and goals, as well as their location. Using the methodology of imagology (Leerssen, 2007), and multimodal visual analysis (Kress and van Leeuwen, 1996, 2006), five case studies are elaborated, covering books from five different countries in the Western Balkans (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, and Montenegro) and from five different types within children’s literature (non-fiction, anthology, novel, picturebook, and an e-book). The five case studies confirm the complexity of the topic at hand. Although there are no firm patterns in the production of English translations of contemporary children’s literature from the Western Balkans we can point out several observations. While the translations of the text, in most cases, closely follow the source text, with only slight interventions by some of the translators, the translated books differ quite significantly in their paratexts, especially illustrations and adaptations accompanying the book for the target culture. In terms of the representation of violence, as one of the predominant stereotypical characteristics of the Western Balkans, images vary from direct representation of violence to full erasure of violent acts. The discussion on presenting violence is analysed from two distinct points of view, the two traits of auto- and hetero- images as identifies in the case studies. In cases of self-representation, the case studies show a network of production participants in which the source author can be seen as the driving force in the process, usually recruiting friends and supporters to perform other tasks in the process translators, illustrators, publishers, etc. The auto-images take the form of ‘nesting’ Balkanisms, balancing (non)violent masculinities, or centring on love and humaneness. On the other hand, networks led by translators/editors located in the target culture will more often be motivated by commercial factors, along with representation of the source culture, thus either emphasizing the preconceived stereotypes of dominant violence in the Western Balkans, or turning towards globalizing the images of violence.

The main aim of this thesis is to analyze EU-Western Balkans relations with regard to the prospective EU membership of the Western Balkans, and to make an analysis of the EU&rsquo
s Western Balkans enlargement strategy and the scope of membership conditionality imposed on the Western Balkans from post Dayton period (1995) to present (2006). This thesis examines how the EU membership conditionality worked in the Western Balkans&rsquo
preparatory stages for pre-accession, and to what extent it is different from the CEE enlargement process. Lastly, considering the discussions on rediscovered absorption capacity and the commitment of EU for further eastward enlargements after the CEE enlargement of 2004, it is looked into whether there has been a shift in EU&rsquo
s Western Balkans strategy. This thesis argues that the dominant factor determining the dynamics of the EU-Western Balkans relations are preferences, priorities and internal dynamics of the EU. The comparison between the CEE&rsquo
s and Western Balkans&rsquo
EU integration process reveals that EU tailored a long term and flexible enlargement strategy with increasing conditionality within SAP framework for the Western Balkans. Hence as long as the EU does not feel a sense of urgency straining the stability and EU integration of the region, a motivation for presenting an immediate enlargement platform will not emerge. In this sense, after the CEE enlargement, EU rediscovered its absorption capacity as a main membership condition and further differentiated the regional countries in terms of their own merits in fulfilling EU&rsquo
s conditionality and standards.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the ‘instrumental territorialisation’ (a concept based on Foucauldian and Deleuzian premises) of the Western Balkans, and the manner in which the emergence of territory is enmeshed within wider political, cultural and artistic dynamics. Understanding how these processes are involved in the field of culture - more precisely visual art - presents the leading challenge of this study. One of my central arguments is that the ‘creation of a territory’ can be understood through the lens of artistic terms and practices. I use the notions of territorialisation, panopticon and heterotopia to explore the functioning of visual art in the Western Balkans, while interrogating the different ways in which territorial arrangements have been implicated in the rise of new cultural policies and practices. The study relies on visual methods and interviews to explore the establishment of a new region, through this process of instrumental territorialisation, which has resulted in a specific political and cultural arrangement. The research proceeds to a demonstration of the way in which the cultural changes and artistic practices in the Western Balkans, in all their different aspects, are associated with a plethora of political narratives, discourses, arrangements and regulations.

The thesis studies the impact of the EU on security sector reforms (SSR) in the Western Balkans with an aim to investigate recent changes in the security dynamics of the region. The study covers the period from 1991, which marks the break-up of Yugoslavia, to 2013, the year when the first Western Balkan state joined the EU. It investigates changes in the security situation in the Western Balkans on both regional and state levels. While the region as a whole has become much more secure and peaceful, compared to the 1990s, its separate states display varying degrees of stabilisation and development. By comparing the EU’s involvement in SSR in Croatia, Serbia and BiH, which in the studied period achieved a full membership, candidate status and potential candidate status respectively, the thesis aims to determine if these differences can be linked to EU policies. The work argues that between 1991 and 2013 the character of security interdependence between the Western Balkan states changed from negative to positive, and that the EU was one of the key actors behind this change. To explain this transformation, it uses Regional Security Complex Theory (RSCT), that provides a comprehensive framework for analysing regional developments from the security point of view. The dissertation contributes to the study of the EU as a security actor and indicates the possibility of new applications of RSCT by examining the EU’s engagement with security sector reform and the evolution of security dynamics in the Western Balkans as the result of this engagement. It also extends the understanding of the effects and limitations of Europeanisation in states recovering from war and conflict.

I sistemi di allevamento occupano un terzo della superficie terrestre e, nei paesi in via di sviluppo, costituiscono un importante strumento per la riduzione del rischio per le comunità rurali. Questi sistemi sono molto sensibili all’azione di disturbo di fattori esterni ed hanno una scarsa capacità di adattamento. Recentemente, i Balcani occidentali sono stati interessati da conflitti armati dopo la caduta della Jugoslavia. In risposta a questi fattori sono emerse nuove limitazioni e gap di sviluppo che agricoltori ed allevatori hanno dovuto fronteggiare. Tali divari si sono ancor più ampliati nel corso del tempo e le pratiche tradizionali di allevamento sono state abbandonate. Gli obiettivi principali della tesi sono i seguenti: (i) analizzare, in relazione alle regioni biogeografiche e considerando i singoli paesi, come il settore zootecnico si stia riorganizzando, (ii) quali vincoli stanno influenzando i sistemi di allevamento e quali opzioni di sviluppo possono contribuire alla loro continuità e (iii) come si differenzia nei diversi paesi l’efficienza tecnica del sistema vacca-vitello. Attualmente, il settore zootecnico è riorganizzato su ciò che rimane dell’assetto strutturale del periodo comunista dopo i conflitti degli anni '90. I principali vincoli risultano legati alle problematiche economiche dei sistemi. I trend individuati delineano una diminuzione degli allevamenti, ma allo stesso tempo un aumento del numero di animali per azienda. Nella maggior parte dei casi, il numero medio di animali per azienda si trova attualmente al di sotto del livello sostenibile e le aziende di piccole e medie dimensioni hanno la necessità di aumentare la loro dimensione. L'importanza dei programmi di sviluppo rurale, insieme alla definizione e all'attuazione di pratiche alternative di gestione, sia a livello di regione biogeografica che locale, sono identificate come le principali opzioni di sviluppo. L’analisi del sistema vacca-vitello evidenzia che le aziende che operano con più elevata efficienza sono quelle di dimensioni minori e meno specializzate.
Livestock systems occupy about a third of the planet’s ice-free terrestrial surface area and, in developing countries, serve as an important risk reduction strategy for vulnerable communities. The livestock sector is very sensitive to external disturbances and has just limited capacity to cope with emerging constraints. Recently, Western Balkans were affected by armed conflict after the downfall of the former Yugoslavia. In response to these disturbances, new constraints and development gaps emerged, which the local farmers and breeders had to withstand. Those gaps have widened even further over the time and livestock farming adapted to those changes leading to the abandonment of traditional practices. The main objectives of this thesis were (i) to analyse on a scale of biogeographical regions, taking into account single countries, how the livestock sector is reorganizing, (ii) which constraints are affecting the systems and which set of development options could contribute to their continuity and (iii) how the emerging cow-calf system in different countries diverge in terms of technical efficiency. The livestock sector is now organised on the remains of the communism period and of the conflicts among newly emerging states in the ‘90s. Main perceived constraints are highly related to the economic issues. For the upcoming trends a decrease of participants to the systems, but simultaneously an increase of the number of animals per farm are present. In most cases, the current mean number of animals per farm is below the proposed sustainable level and most of the small and medium farms need to increase their size. The importance of rural development programmes together with the designation and implementation of alternative management practices on both regional and local basis are highlighted as the main development options. In terms of efficiency gaps among the analysed cow-calf farms, smaller and less specialised units operate with the highest estimated result.

The thesis traces the construction of the Western Balkans since the end of the armed conflict in 1995. The term Western Balkans has become a commonplace in international politics that refers to a recognisable region on the European map – ignoring that it does not constitute a historical formation of European and Balkan politics. Most contemporary analysis focuses on functional aspects of economic cohesiveness and security interdependence. However, this thesis argues that the concept of Western Balkans is better understood as a social construction, externally-driven. The argument is that the Western Balkans is what the European Union makes of it. By taking a macro-historical perspective, we look at the long and special ties that the EU has had from the time of Yugoslavia to the Western Balkans until the mid-2000s. What we uncover is a special and consistent involvement of the European Commission into the regional affairs. The Western Balkans starts as a small organisational department within the institutional structure of the external relations' portfolio to become a regional identity question for the local populations. Also, the thesis points to the Commission’s actions as not just the outcome of micro-calculations but part of a social context of competing world-views; and, finally, this is the reason that the end-product of the Western Balkans resembles more a messy amalgam rather than a rational design.

The western Balkans is a region that throughout history has been the field of the competition of great powers and of power games. Many hegemonies have been established in this region and even more conflicts have taken place, with Germany to play an important role in most of them. Despite the past and the recent destruction that finished in 1999, the western Balkans appearing stable enough and ready to integrate into the West. Nevertheless, the terms of this integration as well as the historical experience create questions that this research comes to answer. In particular, this thesis focuses on the role of Germany in this region and secondly on the role of the EU in the western Balkans and tries to explore whether there is a German hegemony. Furthermore, we are trying to identify the role of the European Union in the establishment of an hegemony and whether the European Union represents a tool for the promotion of certain interests in the western Balkans. As it would be obvious later, the kind of hegemony that is explored has politico-economic nature and operates at elite level. For this purpose, we will rely on the neo-Gramscian theory of hegemony. Finally, and in order to prove our case, we will conduct the research with the use of Serbia, Albania and FYR Macedonia as case studies.

The overarching focus of this thesis is the institutional (and policy) consequences of European integration for the Republic of Croatia. So far, most research on ‘candidate Europeanisation’ has focused on the impact of EU conditionality on the domestic polity, politics, and policy domains of the post-communist countries of Eastern Europe. This study extends candidate-state Europeanisation research further to the South-East corner of the continent. Unlike the other Western Balkan states, Croatia is very close to concluding its entry talks and hence becoming the 28th EU member-state. Yet Croatia’s bid for EU membership has been the most challenging, draconian and uncertain in the history of EU enlargement. The time is thus ripe for an appraisal of the EU’s impact on Croatia’s institutional context. The present study employs a historical variant of rational choice institutionalism in politics, answering acclaimed scholars’ call for more ‘pluralist’ theorising in social sciences in general, and more explicit, history-sensitive and time-oriented theorising in Europeanisation research in particular. In this study, the historical perspective - encapsulated in the notion of ‘institutional evolution’ - helps make sense of the processes of ‘politicisation’, ‘resilience’ and ‘institutionalisation’ which have thus far been neglected in writing on ‘candidate-state Europeanisation’. The present study inquires into four Croatian institutions and two policies: civil service, administrative procedures and justice systems, and territorial set-up, as well as regional policy and decentralisation. In terms of research design, a ‘bottom-up-down’ framework is employed here, aiming at providing a ‘rounded’ explanation of the phenomenon of domestic institutional development under EU conditional incentives. Overall, both the historical and empirical chapters suggest a ‘sluggish’ pattern of institutional development in Croatia, persisting resilience to change and therefore ‘shallow’ Europeanisation effects. That being said, the present study exposes the limits of the transformative power of the EU.

The main objective of this thesis is to evaluate the future prospects for membership of the Western Balkan countries in the European Union. Western Balkan includes the following countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. The main objective of the first chapter is to define the mutual relations between the European Union and the Western Balkan countries, according to their past results since the end of the Cold far until present. The second chapter explains the main features of the political and economic situation in the Western Balkans and the enlargement policy of the European Union. Emphasis was put on the Copenhagen criteria and on some of the main components of the Stabilization and Association Process, such as Stabilization and Association Agreements and EU pre-accession assistance to the Western Balkans. The last chapter deals with the future development and the possibilities for membership of the Western Balkan countries in the EU, based on the evaluation of the results which were achieved by the Western Balkan countries according to the latest European Commission progress report.

This doctoral thesis explores the origins and development of Neolithic crop agriculture in the western Balkans from c.6100 to 4500 cal. BC, through archaeobotanical data. The western Balkans is a geographical area comprising of Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and the Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia. The western Balkans is the first area in the westward spread of agriculture into Europe where different maritime and inland routes can be observed to progress simultaneously whilst retaining distinctive cultural signatures. The aim of this thesis is to identify and describe the crop packages, gathered edible plants and cultivation practices between the two streams of neolithisation, and to place them within their wider geographical and chronological contexts. As such, archaeobotanical records from Adriatic Italy, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece were also used. Data for this thesis is thus composed of samples from ten sites analysed by the author, in addition to a dataset of 244 archaeobotanical records from published and unpublished Neolithic sites. The ten sites are analysed individually before being added to the larger dataset, allowing for site-specific interpretations to be made. This thesis demonstrates that the suite of crops cultivated by the first farmers to reach Europe was not as restricted as was previously suggested by other meta-analysis approaches. Through statistical methods, spatial and diachronic differences within the crop packages are illustrated, and ecological characteristics of the possible weed flora are used to define past agricultural systems. Both environmental and cultural explanatory frameworks are sought to explain the patterns in agricultural practices, which appear to have been variably influenced by both parameters. Although domesticated fauna are not the focus of this thesis, information on animal husbandry regimes is included wherever possible, with a view to present a more accurate image of the agricultural foundations that defined the Neolithic in the western Balkans.

This doctoral thesis focuses on a less explored aspect of the political clientelist exchange: the role of citizens in political clientelism. It offers an original theoretical argument on the divergent clientelist engagement of citizens and probes the derived assumptions while using empirical data from the Western Balkan region (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia). The thesis argues that one may distinguish between different types of clients when focusing on the services that they provide in return for the benefits which they obtain. As a result, the study distinguishes between clients who offer only electoral services to political parties in return for petty clientelist benefits (electoral clientelism) and clients who offer extended political services relevant for the building of party organizations in return for grand clientelist benefits (patronage). Party services provided in the past are thus best seen as a form of non-material resource that may be utilized in clientelist bargaining by citizens-clients and which is converted to material benefits through clientelist transactions. The author thus proposes that the variations of citizen engagement are prompted by the individual clients’ divergent resource bases, with the resource base being consisted of both non-material and material resources relevant for political clientelism. Clients who are after grand benefits engage in political clientelism while providing extended party services (and thus accumulate political resources) in comparison to clients who extract petty clientelist benefits; and clients who are better-off in material terms engage in clientelism in order to obtain benefits of higher material value in comparison to poor clients. These assumptions are tested against survey data from the Western Balkan region while examining the differences between clients involved in exchanges of votes for benefits and in citizen-initiated clientelist transactions (multivariate logistic regression analysis). Qualitative data consisted of semi-structured interviews with citizens is used in order to describe the main differences between the two sets of clients. The thesis also relies on original fieldwork conducted in the region consisted of expert information collection. The thesis also aims to contribute to conceptual advancement in understanding the varieties of political clientelism. Beside developing a distinction between different types of benefits and services exchanged through clientelism (i.e. petty and grand benefits/services), the thesis offers a typology of clientelist exchanges and corresponding patron and client strategies of engagement. Following the typology, citizens engage in political clientelism through vote selling, turnout selling, abstention selling, party serving and clientelist benefit-seeking. The first three types are characteristic for the one-off electoral exchanges while the latter two for the iterated exchanges of patronage.

The general aim of this paper is to describe how the European Union can affect and transfer their conditionality politics to the Western Balkan countries. A specific purpose of this study is to describe and explain what we in this paper consider to be a specific additional membership criterion, regional cooperation that has been especially designed for this region. The point of departure for this paper is Europeanization theory that will be used to study the European Union’s impact on non EU-members in Europe. The theoretical Europeanization mechanisms are taken from Heather Grabbes “Europeanization model”. A descriptive case study method together with a theory consuming method will be used. After the wars in former Yugoslavia the now independent countries started in their own pace to move closer the European Union. The problems the individual countries faced in the beginning of the 21^st century were much a consequence of the war. This lead the European Union to establish a special political and economical regional framework, where regional cooperation was emphasized. Regional cooperation developed into one of the most important elements in the EU´s relation with the countries and is made a specific requirement under the Stabilization- and association process. Implications this paper makes are that regional cooperation can be considered as a specific requirement the EU use in the Western Balkan countries membership process and that EU have a series of “influencing tools” which works to promote regional cooperation in the Western Balkans.

Les Balkans occidentaux (BO), déchirés après 1989 par les guerres dont les plus sanglantes et les plus problématiques en Bosnie-Herzégovine, au Kosovo, et en Albanie, ne pouvaient plus laisser indifférentes les puissances occidentales, et en particulier l’OTAN et l’UE. La survenue de ces conflits a confronté en effet les pays européens à la guerre près de chez eux signifiant une éventuelle déstabilisation de la région et la gestion d’un grand nombre d’immigrés en provenance des BO. C’est pourquoi l’OTAN et l’UE se sont depuis largement investies dans des missions de pacification et de reconstruction étatique dans cette région, par la mise en place de politiques de sécurité et de défense, puis par le biais de politiques d’élargissement. L'action de ces différentes organisations, à côté de celle des BO, a permis la fin de la guerre et une certaine stabilisation de ces pays. Mais, cette dernière est loin d'être complétement acquise. En effet, c'est la non consolidation des institutions étatiques et de la démocratie qui menace encore l’effondrement de l’Etat et qui continue à constituer un enjeu de taille pour les pays des BO.Notre thèse a pour objet d’analyser l'évolution de la stabilisation des BO depuis la chute du mur de Berlin en étudiant et en mettant en confrontation des ensembles complexes de relations entre acteurs, enjeux, moyens et processus. Afin d'analyser ce processus complexe, nous proposons un modèle qui s'appuie sur le concept des « communautés de sécurité » (CS) de Deutsch et al. (1957). Cependant, pour les besoins de notre étude, nous reconceptualisons ce concept à l’aide de variables que nous avons choisies en européanisation et en démocratisation que les auteurs n’avaient pas pu prévoir à l’époque de la rédaction des CS.Ainsi, le concept de CS reconceptualisé permet de répondre à notre problématique: pourquoi et comment une CS comprenant les pays de la région encore instable des Balkans occidentaux se construit-elle sur le continent européen autour de l'OTAN et de l'UE, depuis la chute du Mur de Berlin ?Notre hypothèse est la suivante : la construction d’une CS s’explique par la combinaison de deux éléments : d’une part la pression exogène des organisations régionales exigeant des changements concrets en termes de démocratisation et de sécurisation, et d’autre part l’acceptation de ces exigences de la part aussi bien des élites que des populations des pays concernés. En d’autres termes, plus la pression des organisations régionales est perçue comme légitime et mise en œuvre, plus la création d’une CS est probable.La variable dépendante que nous analysons est la construction d’une CS européenne comprenant les Balkans occidentaux (CSEBO) pluraliste. Les moyens de construction de cette communauté de sécurité correspondent à nos variables indépendantes choisies en sécurité, européanisation et démocratisation et qui sont de deux types : endogènes et exogènes. Il s’agit d’une part, des variables portant sur le rôle des facteurs et acteurs externes (OTAN et UE) en vue de la stabilisation des BO, et donc de leur contribution à la construction de la CSEBO. Il s’agit d’autre part, d’une série de variables endogènes portant cette fois-ci sur le rôle des facteurs et acteurs internes (élites et populations des pays des BO) dans la formation de la CSEBO. Nous montrons que les niveaux interne et externe sont en permanente interaction.Les résultats de notre étude, obtenus dans le cadre de la méthode de process-tracing à partir de sources primaires et secondaires, ainsi que d’entretiens semi-directifs, montrent un découpage dans le temps dans la construction de la CSEBO: avant et après 2000. Ainsi une première période allant de la chute du Mur de Berlin jusqu'au début des années 2000 connaît l’absence quasi-totale des conditions constitutives des CS et donc la CSEBO est très embryonnaire ici. Nous montrons ensuite qu’une CSEBO se construit progressivement à partir du début des années 2000
The Western Balkans (WB) were torn apart after 1989 due to wars, which were particularly cruel and problematic in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in Kosovo and in Albania. Western powers, and especially NATO and EU, could not anymore turn a blind eye. These conflicts indeed confronted European countries to war in a neighbouring state which could lead to destabilization of the region and to more migrants coming from the WB. This is the reason why NATO and UE have since been deeply involved in peace building and state building missions throughout the region. They started with implementing security and defense policies, then turned to enlargement policy. These organisations’ actions, as well as the efforts done by the WB, led to the end of the war and, to a certain extent, to a stabilization of these countries which is however not fully achieved. WB State security is indeed still a major objective. The threat lies nowadays in the non consolidaton of state institutions and democracy.Our thesis is aiming at analyzing the stabilization of the WB since the fall of the Berlin wall. It will focus on studying and confronting a complex set of actors, goals, means and processes in order to have a better understanding of the evolution of the stabilization of the region. In order to analyze this complex process, we are using a model based on the concept of « security communities » (SC) developed by Deutsch and al., at the end of the 1950’s. However, for the need of our study, we will « reconceptualize » this concept using several variables selected in europeanisation and democratisation studies which the authors could not have predicted at the time they elaborated their concept of « security communities ».Therefore, the concept of SC, « reconceptualised », helps answering our research problem : why and how has a SC including countries from the instable region of the Western Balkans been built on the European continent, around NATO and the EU, since the fall of the Berlin wall ?Our research hypothesis consists in the combination of two elements to explain the building of a SC: on one side, an exogenous pressure from regional organizations imposing concrete changes in terms of democracy and securitization and, on the other side, the acceptance of these demands from both the elites and the population of the concerned countries. In other terms, the more legitimized and implemented the pressure from these regional organizations is, the more probable is the creation of a SC.The dependent variable that we analyze is the building of a pluralistic European SC which includes the Western Balkans. The means for building this security community correlate with our independent variables which are endogenous and exogenous and have been selected in security, democratisation and europeanisation studies. On one side, exogenous variables stand on the role of external actors and factors (NATO and the EU) leading to the stabilization of the WB, and therefore to their contribution to the building of an European security community including the Western Balkans (ESCWB). On the other side, there is a range of endogenous variables being the role of internal actors and factors (elites and populations of the WB) in the shaping of ESCWB. We will show that both internal and external levels are in constant interaction.Our study results based on primary and secondary sources as well as semi-directed interviews and using the « process-tracing » method highlight two distinct periods regarding the building of the ESCWB: before and after the year 2000. Thereby between the fall of the Berlin wall and the year 2000, there is almost a complete lack of the necessary conditions to build a SC and therefore the ESCWB merely exists in an embryonic form. ESCWB then progressively emerges from the beginning of the 2000’s

This thesis investigates the diverse ways in which social agents construct the relationship between past, present and future through a study of historical consciousness and its role in the negotiation of identity and shifting power relations in the border region of Southwest Serbia. The focus of the research falls on ethnic relations between Serbs and Bosniaks, who predominantly inhabit the area, and the boundaries that they imagine surround the world they live in. The goal has been to trace the life of these ethnic boundaries, and with it the relationships between those who imagine them by following their transformations in history, as well as to inquire into elements of social patterns that may be discernable within a contextualized and historicized analysis of the region. In order to achieve this, I have analysed the diverse pasts and futures that coalesce in the many 'time spaces' that Southwest Serbia's social actors inhabit in any present moment and from which they (re)construct these boundaries and their identities. The research has been situated within the wider anthropological discussion about the relation of culture (memory) and history and draws on insights made by relevant studies and ethnographies conducted on the territory of the former Yugoslavia. The data presented demonstrates that ethnicity and nationality are not fully crystalized as concepts in Southwest Serbia, their contents are imagined in inconsistent ways in and between social groups, while ethno-national identities and histories are not on the whole felt to be crucial to one's personal sense of self, but are perceived and put to use as malleable political resources. As a result, the most dominant allegiance in Southwest Serbia is to one's family, the only group whose 'essence' escapes political malleability and whose members share a common cross-temporal vision.

This paper deals with FDI in the Western Balkan countries with an emphasis on the determinants that influence FDI inflow. First, the conditions for investing in the region are examined, and then specific variables are chosen to be analyzed in the second part of the thesis. In the empirical part of the paper, the statistical significance of institutional and macroeconomic variables on the FDI inflow is researched. The concluding chapter evaluates the relationship between the accession process and FDI volume, and potential areas for FDI placement are recommended. As overall follow up to the preceding deductions, the investment outlook is finally presented.

In the rapidly globalizing world with increasingly democratic systems of government, public policies are being developed to address the challenges of achieving and maintaining political stability while promoting economic growth to assure national security, the social and economic well being of citizens and sustainable environments for future generations. However, as noted by some thinkers, the process of making policies to achieve these fundamental goals constitutes a series of informal and formal bargains negotiated among political actors and policy elites as constituencies and coalitions to support policy reforms are constantly evolving. The objectives of this thesis are to examine the factors driving public policy choice and implementation, focusing on the role of policy makers, in order to better understand policy making in developing and transition economies and to contribute to the strengthening of policy making to these economies. In broad terms the research looks at the role of the state and the policy maker in a state-centred approach to governance and policy making. In particular, the research applies the stages heuristic and theoretical adaptation of the Advocacy coalition framework to examine specific instances of public policy making in the economies in the Western Balkans. The research applies a mixed-methods research approach including a survey of policy makers and case studies of specific reform episodes related to economic growth and the enabling environment for private capital as an important pillar for economic growth. The findings of the research supports the conclusion of Grindle and Thomas (1991) that policy elites are critical in shaping reform agendas and since they play critical roles in defining not only the content of policies but also the timing and pace of reform and the ultimate implementation of the reforms by managing the political economy and marshaling resources for implementation. The research supports Sabatier's view (1991) that the opinions of policy elites matter in public policy making. Therefore the analysis should focus on policy elites and the factors that affect their core beliefs over time. In the case of the Western Balkans, the policy inputs from the relatively weak private sector and the poorly-resourced civil society, combined with the legacy of a communist, state-controlled approach to top-down, autocratic policy making provides the basis for supporting the finding that policy networks, consistent with the definition of Rhodes (2007) among others, apparently do not exist in these transition economies of the Western Balkans. However, it is clear that formal and informal coalitions exist in the Western Balkan. They are formed to respond to particular policy issues and depending on the specific sector these policy coalitions may be more robust or better resourced. More research is necessary to understand the informal interests and coalitions that operate on the political level. Finally, the study concludes that policy making occurs in a highly political environment that is critical for effective policy making and successful policy reform in developing and transition economies.

Salafist mujahideen arrived in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Bosnian War (1992-1995). The presence of mujahideen, coupled with the increased scrutiny on the Islamic World post-9/11, led to the narrative of Bosnia being primed for the proliferation of jihadi takfiri Salafi ideology. This prediction was supported by the existence of villages that adhered to shari’a law and parajamaats, parallel mosques, which operated outside of the control of the formal Bosnian Islamic Community (BIC). In the mid-2010s, Bosnian-born foreign fighters travelled to foreign theatres of conflict, mainly Syria and Iraq, to support and fight for terrorist groups, including ISIS. According to radicalisation theories often applied to European case studies, Bosniaks were expected to accept and proliferate Salafism. This assumption is based on Bosnia’s history of ethnic violence and trauma, socio-economic challenges, and a dramatic unpreparedness to counter the presence of foreign entities promoting the ideology domestically. However, as of 2016, the flow of Bosnian-born foreign fighters had halted, as has the presence of Salafist radicals willing to break the threshold of violence. This thesis proposes reasons why a vast majority Bosnian Muslims did not radicalise as expected by exploring the actions taken by civil society, the Bosnian Islamic Community, and the central government to combat Salafist radicalisation in Bosnia. The thesis evaluate how actions and policies were perceived and critiqued by those with localised knowledge and lived experience. This thesis uses an interpretive framework and employs insights from political anthropology and political ethnography, drawing on interviews to present a ‘from within’ analysis. The analysis of Bosnia's historical and cultural complexities and radicalisation literature reveal significant gaps regarding the interplay of the different segments of Bosnian society in countering and preventing Salafist radicalisation.

In February 2018, four years after the President of the Commission Jean Claude Juncker explicitly deprioritised the enlargement dossier, the European Commission relaunched the enlargement strategy to the region of the Western Balkans. This occurred despite the persistent polarisation around the topic among the EU Member States and the still-present struggles, when not outright regression, of some of the countries in pursuing the demanded reforms. This thesis carries out a multilevel foreign policy analysis of EU foreign policy toward the region of the Western Balkans during the period of the Juncker Commission, through the cases of Bosnia Herzegovina and Serbia. Drawing from Actorness theory (Bretherton and Vogler 2006), combined with perspectives from new institutional leadership (Smeets and Beach 2020), and new intergovernmentalism (Moravcsik 2018; Bickerton et al. 2015), this study seeks to explain the relaunch of enlargement by examining three dimensions: the international context and the role of non-EU actors such as China, Russia, and Turkey; the EU context, through the interaction of the significant EU Member States and Institutions; finally, the local context, through the analysis of the changes in the local perception of the EU and the considered non-EU actors. This study posits two interconnected points: first, that the changes in the international context, specifically the increased presence of non-EU actors such as China, Russia, and Turkey in the region, acted as triggering factors for the relaunch of the strategy. In addition, it argues that this relaunch was successful due to the peculiar combination of Germany’s interests and leadership within the Council, coupled with the Commission’s priorities.

Judicial corruption and organised crime are the main factors which have undermined the democratisation process and the strengthening of the rule of law in the Western Balkans. Organised crime and corruption are so entrenched that they have been cited as two key obstacles to the admission of Albania to European Union membership in 2011. In Albania, as in many Western Balkans countries, the democratic transition of the early 1990s has encountered many problems as institutional transformation has been put into practice. While many people envisioned a new democratic regime and retrospective justice for the excesses of prior community officials, many former members of the politburo retain key positions in the economy and politics today. They do so in a context where organised crime and judicial corruption flourish. Albania scores poorer than any other country in the Western Balkans on judicial corruption. Despite the massive consequences of judicial corruption and organised crime for post-communist societies, research on their nexus is rare. The literature is limited for the most part just to describing general patterns and consequences of the phenomenon (Van Dijk 2007; Buscaglia and van Dijk 2003). The academic discourse does little to explore the causes of judicial corruption and its links to organised crime (Buscaglia and van Dijk 2003; Delia Porta 2001; Ruggiero 2000; Delia Porta and Vannucci 1999; Gambeta 1993; Paoli 2003). There are only a few studies on organised crime and corruption in the Western Balkans (Giatzidis 2007; Stojarova 2007; Transcrime 2004; Holmes 2009; Dobovsek 2006; Arsovska 2008; Trimcev 2002). Within this narrow context, this thesis explores the interplay of judicial corruption and organised crime in the Western Balkans with the case study of Albania. This research is socio-legal in its nature and looks at both social and institutional aspects of the phenomenon. The framework adopted combines qualitative and quantitative methods. It included 61 semi-structured interviews; the observation of court proceedings in urban and rural courts for 14 days; archival research of 31 files and secondary data analysis of judicial corruption during the modern period of the Albanian state (1912-2011); as well as the review of several international and local reports on corruption and crime in Albania. This thesis argues that in post-communist societies there are different categories of judges who struggle for power. A high level of judicial corruption favours corrupt judges over honest ones and this also influences social disparity among different categories of judges inside the judiciary. This class division might create an internal conflict between judges and erode the efficiency of the judiciary. It is also argued that if the social status of judges is low, then judges may develop their own subculture and claim a higher status in society. This may push judges to deviance. The rise of corruption in the judiciary weakens the violent patterns of organised crime to influence the judiciary. This strengthens the role of bribes in corrupting judges. As a result, an ongoing ’clientelist’ relationship between organised crime and judicial corruption is more likely. Sophisticated organised crime groups tend to establish permanent relations with judicial corruption, whereas less developed organised crime prefers sporadic contacts. Judicial corruption opens opportunities for powerful elites and organised crime to gain by influencing the judiciary. It helps corrupt judges to get promoted because they have the financial means. Contrary to the limited existing literature, customary norms such as ’Krahinizem’ (regionalism) and ’Kanun’ (codified customary norms) do not play as significant a role in the corruption of modern urban courts as previously expected. 'Clientelistic' family relationships exert a kind of asymmetrical relationship with judicial corruption - sometimes they may promote particularism but family honour on the part of judges may also work to prevent it. It is also noted that blood feud continues to play a significant role in shaping the incentive of judges for corruption and also the motivation of organised crime for recruitment in the hinterland. A distinctive finding of this research is that in societies where there is successive disruption of the judicial systems through political transition and lack of consolidated democratic legal culture, judicial corruption is more likely. This study brings some important contributions to the literature of corruption and crime in post-communist societies. Methodologically, this thesis is the only work that draws on legal history, criminology, jurisprudence and public law for the analysis of the links between judicial corruption and organised crime. And finally, this research is among very few works that attempt to theorise empirically judicial corruption in the context of organised crime in post-communist societies. From the criminological aspect, this study for the first time draws attention to the subculture of judges and shows some deviant patterns of judges justifying their corrupt behaviour.

Agriculture is still important for socio-economic development in rural areas of Bosnia, Montenegro and Serbia (BMS). However, for sustainable rural development rural economies should be diversified so attention should be paid also to off-farm and non-farm income-generating activities. Agricultural and rural development (ARD) processes and farm activity diversification initiatives should be well governed. The ultimate objective of this work is to explore linkages between ARD governance and rural livelihoods diversification in BMS. The thesis is based on an extended secondary data analysis and surveys. Questionnaires for ARD governance and coordination were sent via email to public, civil society and international organizations. Concerning rural livelihood diversification, the field questionnaire surveys were carried out in three rural regions of BMS. Results show that local rural livelihoods are increasingly diversified but a significant share of households are still engaged in agriculture. Diversification strategies have a chance to succeed taking into consideration the three rural regions’ assets. However, rural households have to tackle many problems for developing new income-generating activities such as the lack of financial resources. Weak business skills are also a limiting factor. Fully exploiting rural economy diversification potential in BMS requires many interventions including improving rural governance, enhancing service delivery in rural areas, upgrading rural people’s human capital, strengthening rural social capital and improving physical capital, access of the rural population to finance as well as creating a favourable and enabling legal and legislative environment fostering diversification. Governance and coordination of ARD policy design, implementation and evaluation is still challenging in the three Balkan countries and this has repercussions also on the pace of rural livelihoods diversification. Therefore, there is a strong and urgent need for mobilization of all rural stakeholders and actors through appropriate governance arrangements in order to foster rural livelihoods diversification and quality of life improvement.

Agriculture is still important for socio-economic development in rural areas of Bosnia, Montenegro and Serbia (BMS). However, for sustainable rural development rural economies should be diversified so attention should be paid also to off-farm and non-farm income-generating activities. Agricultural and rural development (ARD) processes and farm activity diversification initiatives should be well governed. The ultimate objective of this work is to explore linkages between ARD governance and rural livelihoods diversification in BMS. The thesis is based on an extended secondary data analysis and surveys. Questionnaires for ARD governance and coordination were sent via email to public, civil society and international organizations. Concerning rural livelihood diversification, the field questionnaire surveys were carried out in three rural regions of BMS. Results show that local rural livelihoods are increasingly diversified but a significant share of households are still engaged in agriculture. Diversification strategies have a chance to succeed taking into consideration the three rural regions’ assets. However, rural households have to tackle many problems for developing new income-generating activities such as the lack of financial resources. Weak business skills are also a limiting factor. Fully exploiting rural economy diversification potential in BMS requires many interventions including improving rural governance, enhancing service delivery in rural areas, upgrading rural people’s human capital, strengthening rural social capital and improving physical capital, access of the rural population to finance as well as creating a favourable and enabling legal and legislative environment fostering diversification. Governance and coordination of ARD policy design, implementation and evaluation is still challenging in the three Balkan countries and this has repercussions also on the pace of rural livelihoods diversification. Therefore, there is a strong and urgent need for mobilization of all rural stakeholders and actors through appropriate governance arrangements in order to foster rural livelihoods diversification and quality of life improvement.

Dans les sites de Sveta Nedela et de Sovjan a été réalisée une analyse typologique précise de la poterie. La région des lacs de Prespa-Ohrid, où sont implantés les deux sites, était pleinement intégrée aux multiples réseaux d'interactions impliquant, à l'échelle micro- et macro régionale, différentes régions du sud-est des Balkans et de la sphère égéenne durant le troisième millénaire et le début du deuxième millénaire BC.

Mestrado em Economia Internacional e Estudos Europeus
Procurou-se, neste Trabalho Final de Mestrado, determinar se a adesão dos países do Centro e Leste Europeu ao Mercado Único Europeu teve um impacto empiricamente mensurável no comércio internacional dos países da região que não aderiram a este, os chamados ?Balcãs Ocidentais?. Para tal, foram utilizados indicadores de comércio geográficos e de especialização, assim como um modelo de decomposição da variação dos fluxos comerciais. Conclui-se que, apesar de se registar uma ampliação da distância entre o PIB per capita médio dos Balcãs Ocidentais e dos Novos Estados Membros da UE entre 2000 e 2016, a análise empírica não sustenta a hipótese apresentada, não se podendo afirmar que o comércio internacional contribuiu para esse resultado. Porém, os resultados não excluem a hipótese, na medida que estes países registaram um aumento das exportações derivado principalmente da conjuntura económica mundial favorável antes da crise de 2009 e dos ganhos de competitividade após desta. Tais efeitos terão mais-que-compensado quaisquer efeitos adversos oriundos da expansão do Mercado Único. No geral, os países da região apresentam-se como economias emergentes em fase de transição, mostrando progresso em todos os indicadores comerciais analisados. Porém, os ganhos de competitividade derivados da fase de transição em que a região se encontra são, por sua natureza, temporários, pelo que os governos da região deverão prosseguir com políticas de reforma estrutural que deem resposta às sérias debilidades da região em matérias administrativas, legislativas e na captação de IDE, matéria em que a UE tem um papel crucial como promotora de dinamismo reformista.
In this Masters Final Thesis, I attempted to determine if the accession of the Central and Eastern European Countries to the EU Single Market had an empirically measurable impact on the international trade performance of the countries in this region that did not join this trade union, the so-called "Western Balkans". For this purpose, geographic and specialization trade indicators were used, alongside a model for the decomposition of trade flow variations. The conclusions state that, while there was an increase in the distance between the Western Balkan's GDP per capita and that of the New EU Member States, the empirical analysis does not sustain the suggested hypothesis and thus I cannot state that international trade performance contributed to this result. That said, the results do not exclude the hypothesis, given that these countries recorded an increase in exports primarily driven by the favourable economic outlook prior to the 2009 crisis and competitiveness gains afterwards. Such effects may have more-than-compensated any adverse effects caused by the expansion of the Single Market. In general, the countries of the region exhibit traits of emerging economies in a state of transition, showing progress in all trade indicators calculated. Despite this, competitiveness gains accrued from the transition phase underway are, by their very nature, temporary. As such, Governments in the region must proceed with structural reform policies that address the severe shortcomings of the region in administration, legislation and FDI attractiveness, while the EU also plays an important role as promoter of reform dynamism.
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

L’islamisation est une des questions les plus intéressantes de l’histoire ottomane. La longue durée de la domination des Ottomans dans les Balkans a modifié le profil culturel et démographique de la région et l’islamisation a joué un rôle capital. Le changement de foi ne s’accompagnait pas d’un changement de langue, impossible à réaliser et qui n’intéressait pas les sociétés pré modernes comme la société ottomane. Un des groupes les plus connus à avoir été islamisé sur le territoire grec est celui des musulmans hellénophones de Macédoine occidentale, connus sous le surnom ironique de « Vallahades ». Leur langue d’origine grecque et leur maintien de nombreuses croyances chrétiennes et préchrétiennes dans leur comportement religieux les a fait paraître comme des musulmans étranges aux yeux de leurs voisins chrétiens, autant que de ceux des voyageurs et chercheurs qui se sont rendus en Macédoine occidentale au cours des deux derniers siècles de l’empire ottoman. On a ainsi formulé de nombreuses affirmations contradictoires sur leur origine, leur conversion à l’islam, leurs us et coutumes. L’objectif de la présente étude est d’analyser le processus de l’islamisation, en examinant pas à pas à travers les sources de chaque époque les conditions politiques, économiques et sociales qui ont favorisé en tant que motifs fondamentaux le changement de foi ainsi que les facteurs qui ont aidé à l’expansion de l’islam (ordres mystiques et bektachisme). Un autre objectif fondamental est de distinguer la vérité historique de la riche mythologie historique qui s’est inévitablement développée à propos des Vallahades sous l’influence de l’idéologie des États nations à partir du 18e siècle
Islamization is one of the most interesting issues in Ottoman history. It has played a major role in the change of the cultural and demographic character of the Balkans during the long Ottoman rule of the region. Conversion in religion did not mean change in language as well. The latter was impossible to happen and it did not concern pre-modern societies like the Ottoman one. One of the best known islamized groups in Greece is the case of the Greek-speaking Muslims of western Macedonia, commonly labelled with the pejorative term “Vallahades”. Speaking Greek and maintaining numerous Christian and pre-Christian customs in their religious culture, they seemed like awkward Muslims in the eyes of their Christian neighbours, as well as in the eyes of travellers and researchers visiting the region in the last two centuries of the Ottoman empire. This led a number of contradictory theories regarding their origin, their conversion to Islam, and their culture. The aim of the present thesis is to analyse the process of Islamization and to examine step by step through the sources those political, economic and social circumstances of each period that encouraged the conversion and the general spread of Islam (mainly mystical orders and bektashism). Another important aim is to distinguish the historical truth from the legends regarding the Vallahades that inevitably flourished under the influence of the Nation-states ideology of the eighteenth century

La projection des normes et des valeurs est un moyen par lesquels un acteur international gère et maintient un contrôle ou une influence sur un domaine particulier dans le système international. L'Union européenne (UE) suit cette logique dans sa politique étrangère, qui est guidée par une orientation normative à la défense de quelques valeurs. La promotion de ces normes donne un poids politique à sa performance sur la scène internationale. L'objet de cette recherche est les relations entre l'Union européenne et les Balkans occidentaux, ici représentée par les anciennes républiques yougoslaves de la Bosnie- Herzégovine, la Croatie, la Macédoine et la Serbie, dans la période 2000-2014. L'objectif de cette étude est d'analyser l'élargissement de l'UE aux Balkans occidentaux et de son rôle dans la réforme du secteur de sécurité dans les pays des Balkans. Cette analyse comprend des discussions sur la nature de l'UE et son rôle régional et international, la dynamique de l'intégration et de sécurité dans le voisinage européen et l'utilisation du principe de conditionnalité et du phénomène d'européanisation comme des expressions de la puissance normative de l'UE. L'hypothèse est que, grâce à sa puissance normative, l'UE exerce un pouvoir d'attraction irrésistible vers les pays des Balkans, qui les conduisent à accepter le processus d'adhésion, même s'ils ne sont pas contraints du consentement des règles. Par conséquent, la puissance normative de l'UE est plus une force d'attraction irrésistible qu'une imposition de normes - et c'est pour ça qu'elle constitue un soft power. Le processus d'élargissement, alors, peut être considéré comme un outil expansionniste de sa politique de soft power, constituant le moyen par lequel elle projette sa puissance régionale: la propagation des normes européennes est le principal instrument de la puissance de l'UE comme un système régional. En raison de l'exercice de ce pouvoir, nous suggérons que le processus d'élargissement affecte en quelque sorte la réforme du système de sécurité des pays des Balkans. Puisque l'un des principaux intérêts de l'UE dans les Balkans occidentaux est la sécurité de la région, le processus d'expansion interfère dans les réformes de sécurité de chaque État balkanique. Néanmoins, l'UE prend soin de sa sécurité et celle de ses membres à travers une politique d'expansion conditionné et institutionnalisé par elle. La méthodologie de cette étude est le développement d'outils théoriques pour représenter la puissance normative comme un outil de soft power dans les relations entre l'UE et les Balkans occidentaux. Le cadre des objets de recherche se fait en analysant leurs trajectoires de construction de l'État et de la tendance de la démocratie. Ensuite, le processus de Stabilisation et d'association est examinée ainsi que la performance des candidats des Balkans occidentaux, à travers l'analyse du contenu des instruments normatifs de l'UE et des entretiens avec les membres des divisions nationales et de l'UE liées à l'élargissement. Enfin, un modèle explicatif est conçu pour être appliqué au phénomène d'européanisation des réformes de sécurité dans le cadre du processus d'adhésion à l'UE, afin d'examiner l'effet de cette dernière dans les politiques du secteur de sécurité. En conclusion, l'UE devient influente dans le système international par la force de ses normes. C'est le cas du processus d'adhésion, où les règles sont exposées d'une manière irrésistible pour les joueurs de la dynamique d'intégration. Alors, l'UE se renforce comme un modèle régional en portant à sa sphère d'influence les États qui ne sont pas encore parties de celui-ci.
A projeção de normas e valores é um dos meios pelos quais um ator internacional consegue e mantém domínio ou influência sobre uma determinada área dentro do sistema internacional. A União Europeia (UE) segue esta lógica ao pautar sua política externa por um viés normativo, através da defesa de determinados valores nas relações exteriores. A promoção dessas normas é o que confere peso político à sua atuação no cenário internacional. Esta pesquisa tem como objeto as relações entre a União Europeia e a região dos Bálcãs Ocidentais, representada aqui pelas ex-repúblicas iugoslavas da Bósnia-Herzegovina, Croácia, Macedônia e Sérvia, no período 2000-2014. O foco deste estudo é o de analisar a ampliação da UE para os Bálcãs Ocidentais e sua influência na reforma do setor de segurança dos Estados balcânicos. Esta análise compreende a discussão da natureza da UE e de sua função regional e internacional; a dinâmica de integração e segurança na vizinhança europeia; e a utilização do princípio de condicionalidade e do fenômeno da europeização como expressões do poder normativo da UE. A hipótese é de que, através do seu poder normativo, a UE exerce um poder de atração irresistível em relação aos Estados balcânicos, o que os leva a aceitar o processo de adesão, visto que não são coagidos à anuência de suas regras. Assim, o poder normativo europeu é tido menos como uma imposição de normas e padrões e mais como um poder de atração ao qual não se pode resistir – e por isso é considerado uma forma de soft power. Logo, o processo de admissão à UE pode ser visto como uma ferramenta expansionista: a disseminação das normas europeias torna-se o seu principal instrumento de poder enquanto sistema regional. Como decorrência do exercício desse poder, sugere-se que o processo de adesão à UE tem impactado na reforma do setor de segurança dos países objeto de análise deste estudo. Sendo que um dos principais interesses da UE em relação aos Bálcãs Ocidentais é a segurança da região, o processo de expansão interfere nas reformas securitárias pelas quais cada Estado tem passado. Afirma-se, assim, que a UE trata da sua segurança e de seus membros através de uma política de expansão condicionada e institucionalizada pela entidade. A metodologia deste estudo parte do desenvolvimento de ferramentas teóricas para retratar o poder normativo como um mecanismo de soft power na relação entre a UE e os Bálcãs Ocidentais. O enquadramento dos objetos de pesquisa é feito pela análise de suas trajetórias de state-building e de tendência à democracia. A seguir, o Processo de Estabilização e Associação é examinado, bem como o desempenho dos candidatos balcânicos ocidentais, por meio da análise de conteúdo de instrumentos de normatização da UE e de entrevistas com membros das divisões nacionais e da UE ligadas ao enlargement. Por fim, um modelo explicativo é montado para ser aplicado ao fenômeno de europeização das reformas securitárias no quadro do processo de adesão à UE, a fim de se examinar o efeito deste último nas policies do setor de segurança. É possível perceber que a UE torna-se influente no sistema internacional muito mais pela força de suas normas do que por seu poder econômico ou militar. Este é o caso do processo de adesão, onde as regras são expostas de forma irresistível aos players da integração europeia: a UE se consolida como modelo regional ao trazer para sua esfera de influência os Estados que ainda não fazem parte do bloco.
The projection of norms and values is one of the means by which an international actor manages and maintains control or influence over a particular area within the international system. The European Union (EU) follows this logic in its foreign policy, which is guided by a normative bias through the defense of certain values in external relations. The promotion of these standards is what gives political weight to its performance on the international system. The object of this research are the relations between the European Union and the Western Balkans, here represented by the former Yugoslav republics of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia and Serbia, in the period 2000-2014. The focus of this study is to analyze the EU enlargement to the Western Balkans and its role in reforming the security sector in the Balkan states. This analysis includes a discussion of the nature of the EU and its regional and international role as well as the dynamics of integration and security in the European neighborhood and the use of the principle of conditionality and the Europeanization as expressions of EU’s normative power. The hypothesis is that, through its normative power, the EU exerts a power of irresistible attraction towards the Balkan states, which leads them to accept the accession process since they are not coerced into the consent of the rules. Therefore, the EU’s normative power is less an imposition of EU norms and standards and more an irresistible attraction force - and that it is why it constitutes a soft power. The enlargement process, then, can be seen as an expansionist tool of its soft power policy, constituting the way by which the EU projects its regional power: the spread of European standards is the main instrument of power of the Union as a regional system. Because of the exercise of this power, we suggest that the enlargement process affects the security system reform of the Western Balkan countries. Since one of EU’s main interests in Western Balkans is the security of the region (and therefore the guarantee of its own security), the expansion process interferes in the security reforms each state has been promoting. Nonetheless, we can say the EU takes care of its safety and that of its members through a policy of expansion conditioned and institutionalized by it. The methodology of this study is the development of theoretical tools to portray the normative power as a soft power tool in the relations between the EU and the Western Balkans. The framework of the research objects is done by analyzing their trajectories of state-building and their democratic tendency. Next, the Stabilisation and Association Process is examined as well as the performance of Western Balkan candidates, through the content analysis of normative instruments of the EU and interviews with members of the EU and national divisions linked to the enlargement process. Finally, an explanatory model is developed to be applied to the Europeanization phenomenon of the security reforms within the framework of the EU accession process, in order to examine the effect of the latter in the security sector policies. Concluding, it is clear that the EU becomes influential in the international system much more by the force of its norms and standards than for its economic or military power. This is the case of the accession process, where the rules are exposed in an irresistible way to the players of the integration: the EU strengthens itself as a regional model by bringing to its sphere of influence those states that are not yet part of it.

Šiame magistro baigiamajame darbe nagrinėjami viešojo administravimo reformos įgyvendinimo procesai Vakarų Balkanų šalyse – Albanijoje, Bosnijoje ir Hercegovinoje, Juodkalnijoje, ir Serbijoje. Šios reformos tikslas – kokybiškas visuomenės interesų tenkinimas. Valstybės buvo pasirinktos siekiant išsiaiškinti, kaip viešojo administravimo sistemos tobulinimas vyksta "ekstremaliomis" sąlygomis, kaip jaunos demokratijos valstybės sugeba adaptuoti pagrindinius viešojo administravimo principus. Analizuojant teorinius temos pagrindus, išryškėjo aktualiausi reformos elementai: marketizacija, decentralizacija, piliečių dalyvavimas, žmoniškųjų išteklių valdymas ir informacinės technologijos. Pirminė hipotezė suponuoja prielaidą, jog tyrimo metu bus nustatyta: viešojo administravimo reformos elementų įgyvendinimo lygis pasireiškia skirtingai kiekvienoje valstybėje ir egzistuoja priklausomybė tarp ekonominio šalies išsivystymo ir viešojo administravimo reformos įgyvendinimo lygių. Darbo mokslinis naujumas atsiskleidžia per šiuos aspektus: bus galima gauti apibendrinančias išvadas apie viešojo sektoriaus padėtį tiek kiekvienoje šalyje, tiek visame regione; šių reformos elementų įgyvendinimas tiriamas jaunos demokratijos šalyse; remiantis atvejo analizės tyrimo būdu, parengtas tyrimo modelis leis gauti duomenis, kurie pagilins ir praplės teorinį viešojo administravimo supratimą. Magistrinio darbo rezultatai gali būti naudingi ir kitoms po-komunistinio bloko valstybėms (pvz. Lietuvai)... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]
This master's thesis analyses the process of implementation of the public administration reform in the Western Balkan countries - Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia. The aim of this reform – qualitatively meet public interests. These states were selected to examine how the public administration system improvement is going in "extreme" conditions, how young democracy countries are able to adapt the basic principles of public administration. The analysis of the theoretical foundations highlighted the most relevant elements of the reform: marketization, decentralization, citizenry participation, human resource management and information technology. The primary hypothesis presupposes that this study will ascertain: the implementation level of the public administration reform elements vary in each country and there is a correlation between the country's economic development rate and the level of public administration reform implementation. The scientific novelty is revealed through the following aspects: it will be available to get the summarized findings of the public sector reform both in each country and across the region; the implementation of the reform elements is studied in young democracies; the developed design of the study allows to get data, which will deepen and enrich the theoretical understanding of public administration. The results of master work may be useful in other post-communist bloc countries (e.g. Lithuania), where the formation of a... [to full text]

Over the past years, a body of literature have emerged exploring FRONTEX’s work along the EU’s borders. It suggests that FRONTEX not only frame migration as a security issue, but also as a humanitarianist issue. The literature argues the framing of migration as both an issue of security and humanitarianism legitimizes FRONTEX’s operations in the Mediterranean. However, there is a lack of understanding in how FRONTEX frames migration at the Western Balkans border, one of the EU’s busiest borders and indeed the busiest during the summer of 2015, registering over a million migrants. Therefore, by investigating how FRONTEX framed migration at the Western Balkans border between the years 2014-2017, this thesis sets out to make a unique contribution to the research field, furthering the understanding of how FRONTEX as an organization frames migration. To examine FRONTEX’s framing of migration, a theoretical framework consisting of theories of framing, risk and threat construction, and humanitarianism is deployed. The concepts of framing devices and reasoning devices are used in a qualitative content analysis to identify the presence of frames in the material consisting of FRONTEX published reports and press releases. The empirical results indicate that FRONTEX frames migration in the Western Balkans as primarily a security issue through language connecting migration to risk and threat. The humanitarianist frame, mainly evoked by references to migrants’ vulnerability, appears relatively few times in contrast to the security frame.

Ce travail retrace l’évolution varisque des Massifs d’Almǎj (Roumanie), de Deli Jovan (Serbie) et de la Stara Planina Occidentale (Bulgarie), à travers une étude pétrostructurale effectuée sur les différentes unités lithologiques de la Nappe alpine du Danubien supérieur. Cette nappe possède la particularité de contenir un marqueur de convergence de toute première importance sous la forme de 4 massifs ophiolitiques démembrés lors de l’orogenèse alpine :Tisoviţa Iuţi (TI, Roumanie), Deli Jovan (DJ, Serbie), Zaglavak (Z, Serbie) et Tcherni Vrah (TV, Bulgarie). Les études pétrologiques de terrain effectuées dans ces trois pays ont permis de confirmer la continuité entre ces 4 massifs, qui, séparément, comprennent chacun une portion de croûte océanique différente (TI :section mantélique et cumulats inférieurs, DJ :cumulats inférieurs et supérieurs, Z :cumulats supérieurs, TV :cumulats supérieurs et section effusive), mais considérés ensemble, forment une pile ophiolitique classique complète. De nouvelles datations par la méthode 147Sm-143Nd confirment un âge d’accrétion pour cette croûte océanique au Dévonien inférieur (~ 400 Ma). Cependant, l’essentiel de ce mémoire concerne les Monts Almǎj, notamment les roches encaissantes du massif de Tisoviţa Iuţi. La partie sud de ce massif ophiolitique représente la section inférieure d’une croûte océanique classique, alors que sa partie orientale est caractérisée par des roches de la croûte océanique supérieure, fortement déformées et transformées (métagabbros à zoïsite et fuchsite). Ces roches font partie de la Zone Mylonitique de Corbu (CMZ), qui comporte également des métasédiments à Gt ± St ± And et des serpentinites. Les conditions PT de formation de ces métagabbros, datés à 380-360 Ma par la méthode 40Ar-39Ar, ont été estimées à des températures comprises entre 450°C et 300°C. Leur contexte de formation peut être assimilé à une semelle ophiolitique ‘froide’, développée lors d’une obduction intra-océanique initiée probablement le long d’une faille transformante. Si le pic de métamorphisme des roches de Corbu a été estimé à 585°C/ 5.5 kbar, leur exhumation pourrait s’effectuer au sein d’un anticlinal en régime transpressif sénestre, en relation avec la formation de la CMZ, interprétée comme une ancienne zone plissée qui évolue en zone de cisaillement sénestre. Au Carbonifère, le granite syntectonique de Cherbelezu se met en place le long de la CMZ et enregistre les dernières phases de cette déformation lors de son refroidissement. Les études préliminaires sur les roches encaissantes des massifs ophiolitiques en Serbie et Bulgarie permettent de préciser une vergence d’obduction du lambeau ophiolitique vers le paléo-NW et d’établir un modèle de reconstitution paléogéodynamique au Varisque pour l’ensemble de la région étudiée./ This study provides new information on the Variscan evolution of the Almǎj Mountains (Romania), Deli Jovan Massif (Serbia) and Western Stara Planina (Bulgaria), throughout a petrostructural investigation conducted on the various lithological units of the Upper Danubian Alpine Nappe. This nappe displays an important convergence tectonic marker in the form of four ophiolitic massifs dismembered during the Alpine orogeny: Tisoviţa Iuţi (TI, Romania), Deli Jovan (DJ, Serbia), Zaglavak (Z, Serbia) and Tcherni Vrah (TV, Bulgaria). Our petrological studies in these three countries have confirmed the continuity between these four massifs, each of which showing, separately, a different portion of the oceanic crust (TI: mantle section and lower cumulates, DJ: lower and upper cumulates, Z: upper cumulates, TV: upper cumulates and effusive section), but taken together, forming a complete classical ophiolitic pile. New dating using the 147Sm-143Nd method has confirmed an accretion age for this oceanic crust at around 400 Ma (Early Devonian). However, the main part of this study has been focused in the Almǎj Mountains, particularly the Tisoviţa Iuţi ophiolitic massif and its enclosing rocks. The Southern part of this ophiolitic massif represents the lower section of a classical oceanic crust whereas its eastern part is characterized by upper crustal oceanic rocks that are highly deformed and transformed (zoïsite and fuchsite-bearing metagabbros). These rocks belong to the Corbu Mylonitic zone (CMZ), which also comprises Gt ± St ± And metasediments and serpentinites. Temperature estimates for the formation of the metagabbros are bracketed between 450°C and 300°C and these rocks have been dated at 380-360 Ma using the 40Ar-39Ar method on fuchiste. The geodynamic context for their formation can be viewed as a ‘cold’ ophiolitic sole, developed during an intra-oceanic obduction probably initiated along transform fault. If the metamorphic peak for the Corbu rocks has been estimated at 585°C/5.5kbar, their rapid exhumation could be realized via an anticline under a transpressive sinistral regime, connected with the formation of the CMZ that is interpreted as an ancient fold zone evolving in a sinistral shear zone. Finally, the Carboniferous syntectonic Cherbelezu granite intrudes along the CMZ and records the final stages of this deformation during its cooling. Preliminary investigations on the enclosing rocks of the ophiolitic massifs in Serbia and Bulgaria allow us to define a top to the NW obduction vergence for the ophiolite and to propose a paleogeodynamic reconstitution model for the Carpathian/Balkans terrains in the Variscan times.
Doctorat en Sciences
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Doctoral dissertation presents an analysis of the Serbian economy in the mutual relations between the European Union (EU) and the Western Balkans. The assumption that the EU and Serbia, as an integral part of the Balkan region, have interests in the partnership and cooperation is the baseline of the research. The following aspects have been singled out, by method of ranking, which is based on achieving the highest turnover in the last six years: trade, foreign direct investment and energy. Gravity model was used to analyze routes of trade and energy. A models of trade import and export between Serbia and the EU 28 member countries and the countries of the Western Balkans, as well as models of imports and exports of energy between Serbia and the EU 28 member countries and the countries of the Western Balkans, were used in order to assess the potential of trade and energy trade. Method of trend line and trend extrapolation of foreign direct investment (FDI) was used in order to determine the degree of the presence of FDI in Serbia and their predictions, which could be an indicator of investment climate in Serbia. The conclusion is that Serbia has strategic importance as a candidate for membership in the EU because of its regional importance. Entering the Western Balkan countries in the EU should not happen without Serbia, because Serbia has a regional importance, which arise from the economic, historical, cultural, infrastructural and geopolitical links with countries in the region, of which some are already members of the EU.

Esta pesquisa levanta os elementos formadores da identidade nacional croata; faz um acompanhamento das conquistas da União Europeia; analisa os atores sociais que se posicionam a favor da Croácia como membro da União Europeia, bem como o posicionamento daqueles que são contra o ingresso da Croácia na União Europeia. Os posicionamentos teóricos, entrecruzados com os dados práticos coletados, faz-nos refletir sobre ganhos e perdas dos croatas em sua relação com a União Europeia. Há tendências negativas da União Europeia, aqui expostas, que não estão explícitas em seus tratados, nem expressos por suas instituições. Importa, nesta pesquisa, alcançar um posicionamento crítico com relação aos atos econômicos, políticos e sociais relacionados com a soberania nacional dos países periféricos do Leste Europeu. Este trabalho coloca em discussão as estratégias dos países ricos da Europa no sentido de perseverarem competitivos em âmbito global, incorporando o mercado do Leste Europeu. Por isso, este estudo se debruça sobre o Alargamento e acordos assinados entre os países-membros da União Europeia; mudanças na legislação croata; influência estrangeira no desenvolvimento humano da Croácia, dados estatísticos da Croácia e de países da União Europeia que espelham fatores positivos e negativos relacionados com a sustentabilidade da soberania nacional.
This research raises the formative elements of Croatian national identity; makes a follow-up to the achievements of the European Union; it analyzes the social actors that are positioned in favor of Croatia as a member of the European Union, as well as the positioning of those who are against the ingress of Croatia into the European Union. The theoretical positioning, intercrossed with practical data collected, makes us reflect on gains and losses of the Croats in their relationship with the European Union. There are negative trends of the European Union, exposed here, that are not explicit in its treaties, nor expressed by its institutions. It is important, in this study, achieving a critical positioning with respect to economic, political and social acts related to national sovereignty of peripheral countries of Eastern Europe. This work puts into discussion the strategies of the rich countries of Europe in order to persevere competitive in global scope, incorporating the East European market. For this reason, this study focuses on the \'Enlargement\' and agreements signed between the member countries of the European Union; changes in Croatian legislation; foreign influence in human development of Croatia, statistical data of Croatia and the European Union countries that reflect positive and negative factors related to sustainability of national sovereignty.

La Serbie n’est certainement pas ce que l’on pourrait désigner comme étant un Etat typique de l’Europe centrale et du Sud-Est. Alliée fidèle de la Russie et de la Chine, elle a subi les plus longues sanctions internationales en Europe et des bombardements de l’OTAN en 1999. Depuis la chute du régime de Milošević en 2000, l’ « enfant terrible » du continent a vocation à adhérer à l’Union européenne, or la tendance n’est clairement pas à l’élargissement. Face aux nombreuses crises (économique, migratoire et démocratique), l’UE parait impuissante à plusieurs égards. Symbole pendant longtemps du développement, de la paix et de la démocratie, elle doit faire face à une perte d’attractivité ces dix dernières années. Toutefois, malgré les doutes de part et d’autre, Bruxelles ne peut pas se permettre de ne pas tendre la main à la Serbie qui a une place centrale dans les Balkans, de par son poids démographique et sa position géostratégique. Le 1er mars 2012, la Serbie a officiellement obtenu son statut de candidat à l’UE. En signant l’accord d’association et de stabilisation, Belgrade s’est engagé à aligner sa législation sur l’acquis communautaire et donc à effectuer de nombreuses réformes. Or, sur fond d’acculturation et de déculturation juridique, des voix s’élèvent contre les réformes en chaîne dans le seul but d’intégrer l’institution européenne. L’un des objectifs de cette thèse est d’éclairer la nature et l’avancée de ces réformes à travers les critères politiques, définis lors du Conseil européen de Copenhague en 1993. Elle étudie les difficultés que la Serbie partage avec tous les Etats du Sud-Est de l’Europe et les difficultés qui lui sont propres, tout en questionnant sur la nécessité et les conséquences de ces changements. L’étude des négociations entre Bruxelles et Belgrade est aussi l’occasion d’apporter un éclairage sur le fonctionnement de l’institution européenne et de constater les limites de l’ambigüité constructive chère à l’UE. Finalement, le comportement de l’Union européenne à l’extérieur de ses frontières est symptomatique de son comportement à l’intérieur
Serbia is certainly not a typical state of Central and Southeastern Europe. A loyal ally of Russia and China, it suffered the longest international sanctions in Europe and NATO bombings in 1999. Since the fall of the Milošević regime in 2000, the "enfant terrible" of the continent is destined to join the European Union. However, the trend is clearly not toward a enlargement. Facing multiple crises (economic, migratory and democratic), the EU seems powerless in many ways. Although the EU has been regarded as a symbol of development, peace and democracy, it has suffered a loss of attractiveness in the last ten years. However, despite doubts on both sides, Brussels cannot afford not to reach out to Serbia, which has a central position in the Balkans, because of its demographic weight and its geostrategic position. In March 2012 Serbia was granted EU candidate status. By signing the Stabilisation Agreement, Belgrade is committed to a gradual harmonization of legislation with the acquis of the European Communities and thus implement many reforms. However, in a context of legal acculturation and deculturation, some voices are rising to denounce a chain of reforms for the sole purpose of joining the European institution. One of our aims is to clarify the nature and progress of these reforms through the political criteria, defined at the Copenhagen European Council in 1993. We will hence study the difficulties that Serbia shares with all the states from Southeast Europe and its own problems, by questioning the necessity and consequences of these changes.The study of the negotiations between Brussels and Belgrade is also an opportunity to examine the functioning of the European institution and to note the limits of constructive ambiguity cherished by the EU. Finally, the behavior of the European Union outside its borders is symptomatic of its behavior inside

This study investigated whether EU Progress Reports measured the Copenhagen political criteria in a biased manner compared to independent indices. At stake is the credibility of the EU accession process and whether countries in the Western Balkans will seek partnerships with the EU or state-actors beyond the European peninsula. This is a case study of how well Albania and North Macedonia fared regarding the political criteria during 2014 and 2017. Each country was ranked against one another in order to find potential discrepancies between measurements from Progress Reports and independent indices. This paper did find evidence that suggests the European Commission disfavored North Macedonia and favored Albania. However, other results were inconclusive. The finding supported accession literature that has called into question the objectivity of the EU accession process.

This text deals with croatian admission process to the EU. The objective is to find out whether Croatia meets political part of the Copenhagen criteria. First part is concerned with croatian political developement since the break-up of Yugoslavia. Second part deals with EU approach to the region of Western Balkan concerning process of enlargement and association. Last part describes admission negotiations between Croatia and EU including assessment of meeting political part of Copenhagen criteria.

Mestrado em Desenvolvimento e Cooperação Internacional
Após abandonar o bloco jugoslavo em 1991, a Eslovénia procurou distanciamento do teatro violento de desintegração de estados experienciado nos Balcãs ocidentais, direcionando a sua estratégia de política externa para a integração nas instituições euro-atlânticas. O virar do milénio e o cumprimento dos objetivos de plena adesão à UE e ao bloco da NATO deixariam a Eslovénia sem um propósito claro de direcionamento externo. Consciente da sua condição de pequeno estado, reviu-se na sua experiência histórica, proximidade geográfica e ambiente normativo interno e externo para formular uma nova estratégia de política externa com vista à cooperação para o desenvolvimento dos Balcãs ocidentais. Através da revisão literária e da análise crítica a algumas das iniciativas eslovenas neste campo, procura-se auferir se a cooperação eslovena tem apresentado capacidade para fomentar o processo de desenvolvimento e integração europeia destes países; quais as suas condições estratégicas como pequeno estado e que entraves se levantam à atribuição de uma maior voz aos seus decision-makers neste processo. O presente documento argumenta que a Eslovénia contribuiu até certa medida para a perspetiva europeia da região, mostrando-se capaz de fomentar o seu desenvolvimento através de uma estratégia de política externa que procurou - mantendo em vista a consecução dos seus próprios interesses - um papel de intermediação entre a UE e os países dos Balcãs ocidentais.
Following the split from Yugoslavia in 1991, Slovenia sought distance from the fierce state disintegration theater experienced on the Western Balkans region, aiming its foreign policy strategy to the integration on the Euro-Atlantic institutions. The turn of the millennium and the fulfillment of the membership goals at NATO and EU would leave Slovenia without a clear purpose of foreign direction. Aware of its condition as a small state, the country reviewed on its historical experience, geographical proximity and internal and external settings to formulate a new foreign policy strategy in order to pursuit cooperation for development of the Western Balkans. Through literature review and critical analysis of some of the Slovene initiatives in this field, we seek to ascertain if Slovenian cooperation was able to foster the development and European integration of these countries; which strategic conditions the country holds as a small state and which obstacles arise to the provision of greater voice to their decision-makers in this process. This paper argues that Slovenia contributed in some extent to the European perspective of the region, being able to foster its development through a foreign policy strategy that sought - while keeping the prospects of achieving its own interests - an intermediary role between the EU and the Western Balkans.
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1. Propósito y objetivo de la investigación Desde la ruptura de la antigua Yugoslavia, a principios de los 1990, las economías en transición de los países de los Balcanes occidentales han experimentado reformas intensas y una transformación estructural significativa que ha resultado en un nuevo patrón de las exportaciones y en una mejora de sus resultados económicos. En este período, los PBO se embarcaron en programas de reformas amplias que persiguieron objetivos tales como la liberalización, la estabilización y la privatización de los sectores anteriormente controlados, eliminando regulaciones que dificultaban el desarrollo empresarial y construyendo instituciones que apoyaban a la economía de mercado. Además, los PBO se han ido abriendo cada vez más al comercio mundial, volviéndose progresivamente más orientadas a la exportación. El objetivo general de estas medidas fue la de construir un entorno de negocios, con una interrupción mínima al transporte y a la comunicación entre los segmentos de producción que lleven a una mayor productividad y de las exportaciones. Esta transformación económica dio lugar a un cambio significativo en la estructura productiva y de exportación, lo que permitió a los PBO integrarse en la estructura de las redes de producción internacional y aumentar su productividad y crecimiento. El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar esta transformación, tanto en términos de la identificación de los determinantes clave que faciliten la participación de estas economías en las redes de producción internacional y su especialización exportadora, como en el estudio del impacto económico de este proceso. En concreto, los objetivos principales de este trabajo están marcados en tres líneas distintivas de análisis. La primera se centra en los determinantes de la participación de los PBO en las redes internacionales de producción. La segunda y la tercera línea de investigan el impacto que esta transformación estructural y el aumento de la participación en redes productivas tiene sobre el crecimiento económico de esas economías. Más concretamente, las principales contribuciones de este trabajo hacen referencia a las siguientes cuestiones: a) Identificar la naturaleza de los factores que estimulan o dificultan la participación de los PBO en las redes internacionales de producción y el comercio de procesamiento. b) Analizar los vínculos entre la creciente internacionalización de la producción y el rendimiento económico de los PBO. c) Contrastar los efectos del comercio de bienes de procesamiento en comparación con los del comercio de bienes finales. d) Examinar el impacto que la creciente sofisticación de la estructura productiva de los países de los Balcanes occidentales tiene sobre su crecimiento. e) Determinar los factores que fomentan el proceso de sofisticación de la producción en estos países. 2. Procedimiento y metodología utilizada 2.1. Procedimiento: estructura de la Tesis Con el fin de lograr los objetivos mencionados, la tesis se ha estructurado en tres capítulos: En el Capítulo I, se utilizan datos de comercio en partes y componentes de los PBO como una aproximación al nivel de participación de estos países en las redes internacionales de producción, y se estudian los factores que estimulan este proceso. En este estudio, analizamos las importaciones y exportaciones de partes y componentes, pero también comparamos estos flujos con del comercio de bienes finales. Esto nos permite identificar los determinantes específicos que influyen en la participación de los PBO en las redes internacionales de producción, así como comparar éstos con los factores que determinan el comercio de bienes finales. En el Capítulo II, se analiza el efecto que los distintos niveles de participación en la internacionalización de la producción tienen sobre el rendimiento económico de los PBO, a través de su participación en el comercio de procesamiento. Evaluamos la posición relativa del país tanto como fuente, como como receptor de este tipo de comercio, así como la importancia del comercio de procesamiento por sectores. Por último, en el Capítulo III se analiza el impacto que la transformación estructural y el cambio de la sofisticación de la producción en los PBO tienen sobre su crecimiento económico. Asimismo, se estudian los factores subyacentes a este proceso. 2.2. Metodología empleada El análisis empírico de la Tesis hace uso del enfoque de datos de panel. Esta metodología nos permite controlar las diferencias específicas de cada país en tecnología, producción y factores socioeconómicos, evitando así los problemas de mala especificación que la heterogeneidad individual implica. Por otra parte, es un hecho bien conocido que los datos de panel proporcionan más grados de libertad, menos colinealidad y por tanto una mayor eficiencia. Con el fin de comparar resultados y probar la solidez de los mismos, así como para hacer frente al problema de la causalidad inversa o simultaneidad, en nuestro análisis econométrico hemos empleado diferentes especificaciones y diversos métodos de estimación. En particular, hemos utilizado técnicas de variables instrumentales. Concretamente, para controlar la posibilidad de que los distintos factores explicativos considerados puedan reforzarse o estar correlacionados con el nivel de participación en las redes internacionales de producción (en el Capítulo II), o con una mayor sofisticación de las exportaciones (en el Capítulo III) hemos recurrido a los mínimos cuadrados en dos etapas y a la metodología GMM. Ignorar estos efectos podría llevarnos a sobreestimar el impacto de estas variables y a encontrar relaciones significativas donde en realidad no existen. Además, para probar empíricamente nuestras hipótesis, en el Capítulo II y III hemos calculado dos índices: (i) el índice de propensión de fragmentación internacional y (ii) el índice de sofisticación de las exportaciones, los cuales han sido utilizados como determinantes principales en los modelos econométricos. Más específicamente, el índice de propensión de fragmentación internacional es de hecho un índice tipo Balassa de ventajas comparativas que capta la tendencia relativa de un país a participar en el comercio de procesamiento. En nuestro análisis, este índice revela la tendencia de un país a participar en el comercio de procesamiento, utilizando el nivel promedio de los PBO como punto de referencia. Sin embargo, por propia definición, este índice presenta un sesgo, en el sentido en que los valores superiores a la unidad expresan niveles de la fragmentación por encima de la media regional, mientras que lo contrario es cierto para los valores entre uno y cero. La ausencia de simetría por consiguiente introduce una dificultad evidente a la hora de interpretar el índice. Nosotros tratamos de resolver esta deficiencia metodológica mediante el uso de una conversión logarítmica del índice. De esta forma, obtenemos una serie simétrica de valores entre uno y menos uno; el índice es positivo cuando el país tiene una propensión comparativa a llevar a cabo comercio de procesamiento y negativo si ocurre lo contrario, lo que nos permite una interpretación más fácil del índice. En el Capítulo III, dada la ausencia de datos en I+D a nivel de productos como medida de su nivel de sofisticación, adoptamos la metodología de Hausmann et al. (2007) elaborando un índice de sofisticación de las exportaciones. Este índice trata de medir la sofisticación de la cesta de exportación de un país a través del nivel de productividad asociada a dicha cesta. Esta medida también se considera una aproximación o proxy del conjunto de los bienes más productivos que un país puede producir en un momento dado. El cálculo de este índice ha requerido la utilización conjunta de datos de comercio y de PIB per cápita de un amplio grupo de países y productos involucrando a más de cien mil observaciones. Por último, una dificultad común en el análisis econométrico de los tres capítulos ha sido la falta de disponibilidad de datos para las diferentes variables con respecto a los países de los Balcanes occidentales. En este sentido, ha habido numerosos ocasiones en que los datos de todos los países no estaban disponibles para el período requerido, lo que nos ha obligada a hacer concesiones y ajustar el período o el alcance de nuestro análisis. Sin embargo, desde nuestro punto de vista, hemos logrado superar con éxito estos obstáculos y producir conjuntos de bases de datos consistentes para todos los países lo que nos ha permitido realizar con éxito el análisis econométrico. 3. Aportes La contribución principal de este trabajo hace referencia a una profundización de los conocimientos de las economías de los Balcanes Occidentales, como una de las partes más sub-investigadas de Europa. Más específicamente, la Tesis hace las siguientes aportaciones a la literatura, de las que se derivan importantes recomendaciones de política económica: a) En primer lugar, corroboramos la teoría de que las diferencias en la dotación de factores y los costes de transacción impulsan la fragmentación del proceso de producción. Además, encontramos también que estos factores tienen un mayor impacto sobre el comercio de partes y componentes que en el comercio de bienes finales. b) A continuación, con el objetivo de analizar el impacto que la participación en redes internacionales de producción tiene sobre el crecimiento económico de los PBO, siguiendo a Baldone et al. (2007), elaboramos un índice que recoge la tendencia relativa de cada país a participar en este proceso. Los resultados muestran la influencia positiva que una mayor participación en el comercio de procesamiento tiene sobre el crecimiento de estos países, si bien encontramos algunas diferencias importantes entre los países. Además, los efectos beneficiosos del comercio de procesamiento parecen complementar a la influencia positiva del comercio tradicional. c) En esta investigación también nos fijamos en el proceso de transformación estructural y, más concretamente, en la sofisticación de la producción de los PBO. Para ello, elaboramos un índice de sofisticación de las exportaciones, a la Hausmann et al. (2007). El análisis revela que la transformación de la estructura productiva de los PBO desde productos con un bajo contenido en conocimiento y nivel tecnológico hacia productos con un conocimiento y nivel tecnológico medio se ha traducido en un aumento en el nivel de sofisticación de las exportaciones. Este proceso parece además estar impulsado en gran medida por los productos manufacturados y en particular por productos con un nivel tecnológico medio, que tienen un efecto positivo y significativo en el crecimiento económico. Observamos que más que un crecimiento en la sofisticación de los bienes con alto nivel tecnológico, ha sido el aumento de la sofisticación en productos manufacturados con nivel tecnológico medio los que han impulsado ese proceso. d) Por último, examinamos cuáles son los determinantes que fomentan el proceso de aumento de la sofisticación de las exportaciones y concluimos que el desarrollo económico y financiero y una mayor competencia en el mercado son factores críticos para estimular la sofisticación de las exportaciones en los PBO. 4. Conclusiones, comentarios finales e implicaciones política El primer capítulo de la tesis analiza los determinantes que impulsan la creciente globalización e integración de los PBO y el resultante proceso de fragmentación internacional de la producción. En concreto, se analizan los factores que facilitan la participación de los PBO en las redes internacionales de producción, centrándonos en el comercio de partes y componentes. Utilizando un modelo de datos de panel con flujos bilaterales de comercio, estimamos ecuaciones de gravedad para el período 2000-2009. En este análisis se consideran no sólo las importaciones de partes y componentes, sino también el comercio bilateral entre los países, es decir, tanto las importaciones como las exportaciones. Se estudia también los factores del comercio más "tradicional" de bienes finales con el fin de ver si hay diferencias en los determinantes que conducen a ambos procesos de internacionalización. Nuestros resultados muestran que el comercio de partes y componentes en los PBO crece muy por encima del comercio mundial de estos bienes durante el período en cuestión. De hecho, el aumento de las importaciones y exportaciones de partes y componentes fue de más de dos y tres veces el aumento de este tipo de comercio a nivel mundial. Por otra parte, el aumento del comercio de los PBO de partes y componentes fue mucho mayor que el crecimiento observado en el comercio de estos bienes en los países de la UE. Asimismo, el crecimiento de este tipo de comercio es aún mayor que el aumento en el comercio de bienes finales, lo que destaca la importancia de este tipo de comercio para la región. De acuerdo con la literatura sobre la fragmentación del proceso productivo, las diferencias en la dotación de factores y en los costes de transacción son las fuerzas que impulsan la fragmentación de la producción. Nuestras estimaciones corroboran esta teoría, al mostrar cómo las diferencias en la dotación de factores y el tamaño del mercado aumentan significativamente la fragmentación de la producción en esta región, mientras que la distancia la dificulta. Observamos que la de la distancia, como parte de los costes de transacción, tienen in impacto negativo mayor sobre el comercio de partes y componentes que sobre el comercio de bienes finales, lo que implica que la influencia de los costes relacionados con la distancia es mayor en las redes de producción debido a la naturaleza del proceso de producción y a los múltiples cruces de fronteras. Otro factor determinante en relación con los costes de transacción es la calidad de la infraestructura. Encontramos que la calidad de la infraestructura es muy relevante para el estímulo del comercio de partes y componentes. Además, dado el hecho de que hay más envíos entre los segmentos de producción dentro de las redes internacionales de producción, la calidad de la infraestructura favorece notablemente más el comercio de partes y componentes que al comercio de bienes finales. El grado de similitud en términos jurídicos y apertura económica con los países socios representa otro factor clave para el comercio de partes y componentes en la región. De nuevo, la influencia de este factor es mucho mayor en el comercio de partes y componentes que en el comercio de bienes finales. Por último, nuestras estimaciones confirman que, de acuerdo con la teoría de la fragmentación internacional de la producción, una reducción en el coste del comercio asociado a los procesos de integración regional favorece la división internacional de los procesos productivos. Encontramos que los lazos regionales entre las repúblicas de la ex-Yugoslavia siguen siendo muy activos, incluso después de una década de guerras y conflictos. Una vez más la importancia de estos efectos es mayor para el comercio de partes y componentes que para el comercio de bienes finales. De este estudio se deducen algunas implicaciones importantes de política económica. Por ejemplo, las empresas que buscan reducir sus costos de producción a través de la fragmentación de su proceso productivo debería prestar atención a los mercados más grandes de la región, en tanto y cuanto el tamaño del mercado determina la eficiencia en los costes de transacción que este proceso conlleva. La importancia del tamaño del mercado podría indicar también que detrás de las decisiones de localización de algunas empresas la búsqueda de mercados desempeña un importante papel. Asimismo, una mejora en las instituciones, que permita disminuir costes adicionales, debe considerarse una estrategia prioritaria para las autoridades. Los gobiernos también deben reconocer que el desarrollo de una infraestructura de calidad en la región es de vital importancia para unirse a la división internacional del trabajo y el comercio, en la medida que una mayor calidad de las infraestructuras promueve la integración comercial. Por último, las autoridades deben ser conscientes del alto potencial comercial subyacente de los vínculos intra-regionales, especialmente en el desarrollo de redes regionales de producción. En el segundo capítulo, damos un paso más, contrastando la hipótesis de que el comercio derivado de la fragmentación internacional de la producción puede generar efectos sobre el crecimiento económico que van más allá de la influencia beneficiosa del comercio total o de bienes finales. Dada la disponibilidad de los datos, nos centramos en el período que va desde 2002 hasta 2013. En este análisis, empleamos datos sobre el comercio de procesamiento; es decir, información sobre el comercio de bienes que se exportan o importan por razones de procesamiento. Además, al observar tanto el comercio de procesamiento en importaciones como en exportaciones podemos evaluar la posición relativa de cada país en la cadena de producción, tanto como receptor o fuente de comercio de procesamiento, lo que nos permite asimismo evaluar la importancia de este tipo de comercio en todos los sectores industriales. Nuestro análisis muestra que los PBO son claramente más un destino del comercio de procesamiento que un fuente del mismo. Además, el comercio de procesamiento desempeña un papel cada vez más importante en los PBO, especialmente en los últimos años cuando el valor añadido del comercio de estas economías se incrementa significativamente. También, observamos un cambio estructural positivo hacia industrias de mayor valor añadido. Además, nuestros resultados revelan que una mayor participación en la fragmentación internacional de la producción ejerce una influencia beneficiosa sobre el comportamiento económico de los PBO, medido tanto en términos de diferencial del crecimiento, como en crecimiento absoluto del PIB. Los resultados también sustentan la hipótesis de que el grado de participación en las redes internacionales de producción influye positivamente en los resultados económicos de los PBO, incluso una vez considerada las ganancias del comercio total o definitivo de bienes. Por lo tanto, una mayor participación en las redes internacionales de producción de los PBO, da a estas economías la posibilidad de conseguir una mayor productividad, siendo un importante determinante del crecimiento, complementando así el impacto beneficioso generado por el comercio total y bienes finales. Asimismo, nuestros resultados muestran la importancia de considerar el papel de las empresas multinacionales en el comportamiento económico de los PBO. El impacto beneficioso que el establecimiento de empresas multinacionales tiene en el crecimiento económico se verifica por el signo y la magnitud de nuestras estimaciones. Este resultado muestra la importancia que las estrategias globales de las empresas multinacionales tienen para el patrón del comercio y la actividad económica de estos países. Por último, también observamos que la acumulación de capital tiene una influencia significativa y positiva sobre el crecimiento económico de estos países. En general, nuestros resultados apoyan la idea de que las políticas destinadas a promover la apertura y la participación de los PBO en la división internacional de la producción podrían ser consideradas un importante estímulo para el desarrollo y crecimiento de estos países. La promoción de un determinado tipo de políticas económicas puede inducir a estos países a explotar mejor sus ventajas comparativas mejorando así sus posibilidades para una modernización económica exitosa. El último capítulo de la Tesis analiza el proceso de transformación de la estructura productiva de los países de la región y la sofisticación de sus exportaciones. En particular, analizamos el impacto que este cambio estructural tiene en el rendimiento económico de los PBO y tratamos de determinar los factores que fomentan este proceso. Para ello, elaboramos un índice de sofisticación de las exportaciones, a la Hausmann 2007. El índice refleja la competitividad relativa de los productos exportados, en función del grado de desarrollo de los países exportadores de cada bien. Es, por lo tanto, un indicador de la productividad de las exportaciones de un país. En nuestro análisis nos centramos en el período de 1996 a 2014. Consideramos el índice de sofisticación tanto a nivel agregado, es decir, para todos los bienes de la economía, como sólo para productos manufacturados. Asimismo, desagregamos los productos manufacturados por su nivel de intensidad en términos de conocimiento y tecnología, lo que nos permite examinar los efectos específicos niveles diferentes de dotación factorial Nuestros resultados muestran que los PBO se han vuelto cada vez más orientados a la exportación y que esto se ha debido en gran parte a una creciente participación del sector manufacturero en las exportaciones totales. Observamos también que, como resultado de la transformación estructural, la sofisticación de producción y las exportaciones de los PBO se ha incrementado durante el período analizado. Este proceso parece estar impulsado en gran medida por los productos manufacturados y en particular por productos con contenido tecnológico medio, lo que indica que los PBO habrían expandido su frontera de producción adquiriendo nuevas capacidades en este nivel de especialización. En línea con los trabajos empíricos anteriores, nuestros resultados confirman la influencia positiva de una mayor sofisticación de las exportaciones sobre el crecimiento del PIB per cápita. En consecuencia, tal y como se espera, la mejora de la sofisticación de las exportaciones de un país implicaría un crecimiento posterior de sus ingresos. Por el contrario, la proporción de manufacturas altamente intensivas en tecnología en las exportaciones no parece haber influido significativamente en el crecimiento económico de estos países. Por el contrario, cuando nos centramos en el impacto que la sofisticación de manufacturas contenido tecnológico medio, nuestros resultados muestran que ésta tiene una influencia positiva y significativa sobre el crecimiento. Esto ratifica nuestra idea de que el movimiento observado desde una especialización en productos con contenido tecnológico bajo hacia productos medianamente intensivos en tecnología ha tenido importantes consecuencias para el crecimiento económico de los PBO. Nuestro análisis también confirma que existe un fuerte efecto de convergencia hacia los países más desarrollados. Por último, en consonancia con los resultados en el Capítulo 2, corroboramos el efecto positivo y significativo que las inversiones y la acumulación de capital tienen sobre el crecimiento en estas economías. Otra cuestión que se analiza en este Capítulo hace referencia a los principales determinantes subyacentes a la variación de la sofisticación de las exportaciones. Es decir, ¿qué es lo que permite a un país mejorar la sofisticación de sus exportaciones? La evidencia obtenida a este respecto sostiene que tanto el desarrollo económico como financiero son factores cruciales en la estimulación de la sofisticación de la cesta de exportaciones en los PBO. Además, también observamos que una menor concentración de las exportaciones contribuye a un aumento de su complejidad y por lo tanto a un mayor crecimiento económico. En general, nuestros resultados apoyan la idea de que las reformas estructurales destinadas a mejorar la estructura de la producción en los PBO aumentan la sofisticación de las exportaciones en la región, pudiendo ser por tanto consideradas un importante estímulo para el crecimiento de los ingresos. La promoción de las políticas dirigidas específicamente a la creciente sofisticación de la producción, y en particular de aquella con un nivel medio de conocimientos y tecnología, tiene un potencial significativo para mejorar el futuro desarrollo económico de estos países. 5. Futuras líneas de investigación Por último, hay algunas líneas futuras de investigación prometedoras que pueden ayudar a profundizar aún más en este estudio. En primer lugar, sería beneficioso extender el análisis de los determinantes que influyen en la participación de los PBO en las redes internacionales de producción. En ese sentido, si bien los resultados de este estudio están en línea con la literatura de la fragmentación internacional de la producción, somos conscientes de que estos determinantes pueden diferir de una industria a otra dependiendo de los patrones de especialización de los países. Por lo tanto, una futura vía de investigación que dirija de forma más detallada las actuaciones políticas podría ser realizar un análisis en profundidad industria por industria. En segundo lugar, el estudio de los efectos que sobre el crecimiento tiene una la mayor participación de los PBO en el comercio de procesamiento, confirmó que cada país de los Balcanes occidentales parece haberse especializado en diferentes industrias cambiando gradualmente hacia industrias con valor añadido más alto. En ese sentido, una mayor extensión de este análisis debe centrarse en un enfoque sectorial de este fenómeno, especialmente teniendo en cuenta que la especialización productiva implica lógicamente diferentes patrones de comercio de procesamiento para diferentes industrias. Por último, en cuanto a la transformación observada de la estructura productiva en los PBO sería interesante conocer más profundamente si la relación entre la sofisticación de las exportaciones y el crecimiento de la renta per cápita depende del régimen de comercio (procesamiento u ordinario) y el tipo de propiedad (nacional o extranjera) de las empresas exportadoras. Además, el avance en el diseño y construcción de un índice de sofisticación de importación (similar al que se ha usado para los bienes exportados) podría ser útil para comprobar si el crecimiento se ve también afectado por las importaciones de bienes más sofisticados (o bienes de capital).

This dissertation thesis is focused on the analysis of changing relations between the Western Balkan countries (WB) and the European Union (EU) against background of actual transformation processes in these countries. The Western Balkans represents a group of countries which were not part of so-called Eastern Enlargement of the EU, but are also slowly heading towards the EU. The EU distinguishes three groups of countries within the WB: Croatia has become an acceding country; then here is a group of candidate countries (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Montenegro, Serbia), and the last group is formed by so-called potential candidate countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo). All of these above mentioned countries are part of the Stabilisation and Association Process (SAP) which nowadays represents the core of the Enlargement Policy of the EU and stands for the main research topic of this thesis. The thesis also comprehends the history of the enlargement process of the EU and the basic theoretical concepts of the (EU) enlargement. The "transformation" chapter includes a theoretical grounding too. Three hypotheses were verified (mainly) by results of transformation, evaluation of Copenhagen criteria by the European Commission, and by the statistical methods (Principal Components Analysis and Cluster Analysis) based on a number of economic and demographic indicators.

Mestrado em Economia Internacional e Estudos Europeus
O objetivo da presente dissertação de mestrado passa por estudar os possíveis impactos económicos de um alargamento da União Europeia aos Balcãs Ocidentais, mais concretamente à Albânia, Macedónia do Norte, Sérvia e Montenegro - atualmente candidatos à integração europeia. Para tal, foi recolhida informação estatística da base de dados CHELEM relativamente aos fluxos comerciais entre os países da União Europeia e entre estes e os Balcãs Ocidentais. Posteriormente, a construção de um indicador baseado no Índice de Vantagens Comparativas Reveladas de Bela Balassa permitiu distinguir entre estruturas de especialização semelhantes e complementares e identificar possíveis fenómenos de criação e desvio de comércio derivados do alargamento da União Europeia aos países considerados.
The following master's dissertation goal is to study the possible economic impacts of a European enlargement to the Western Balkans, more specifically to Albania, North Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro - current candidates for European integration. In order to achieve this goal, statistical information on trade flows between the countries of the European Union and between those countries and the Western Balkans was collected. Afterwards, the formulation of an indicator that allows to distinguish between similar and complementary specialization structures, based on Bela Balassa's Index of Revealed Comparative Advantages, allowed to identify possible creation and diversion of trade as an outcome of the European enlargement.
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

This thesis examines secret intelligence cooperation between three asymmetric partners – specifically the UK, US and Turkey – from the end of the Second World War until Turkey’s first military coup d'état on 27 May 1960. The thesis shows that our understanding of the Cold War as a binary rivalry between the two blocs is too simple an approach and obscures important characteristics of intelligence cooperation among allies. To reveal a more comprehensive analysis of intelligence cooperation, this thesis develops our understanding of it more broadly, by developing a model called ‘intelligence diplomacy’. This model explores a vital, if little understood, aspect of contemporary international relations given the prevalence of transnational threats today. Intelligence diplomacy involves negotiations and the exploitation of different aspects of joint intelligence activities, synchronized between diplomats and specialized intelligence officers. While such efforts often result in overlap between diplomats and intelligence liaison efforts, there is strong evidence that the acts of intelligence services vary from the instructions of their foreign ministries. The thesis also shows that a pragmatic approach offers states new opportunities to protect national interests, by conducting intelligence diplomacy to influence crucial areas such as nuclear weapons and to exploit cooperation in support of their own strategic imperatives. By doing so this thesis not only reveals previously-unexplored origins of secret intelligence cooperation between Turkey and the West, but also contributes to wider academic debates on the nature of the Cold War by highlighting the potential agency of weaker states in the Western Alliance.