Futures of the Western Balkans: Fragmentation and Integration in the Region and Beyond (SpringerBriefs in Political Science)

This Brief provides a survey of key political, social, and economic issues affecting the Western Balkans region. Taking a two-pronged conceptual approach focusing on fragmentation and integration, the volume highlights commonalities and differences in a number of simultaneous dynamics currently characterizing the region: Europeanization and EU access, market integration, and migration and socio-demographic transformations. Stressing the interconnectedness of these issues, the volume synthesizes key questions for the future of the region, such as the relationship between socio-demographic trends and economic development, the effects of depopulation on further EU integration, and the economic and political repercussions of enhanced intra-regional trade. Explicitly interdisciplinary, this Brief will be useful for researchers and students specializing in the Balkans and Western Balkans, post-socialist countries, European affairs, enlargement, foreign policy, international relations, regional studies, economics, economic transition, and socio-demographics. Preface Introduction The European Space: Mending Old Rips While Facing New Divisions From the Great Recession to the Global Pandemic A Variety of Tensions in the Western Balkans Between Fragmentation and Integration: “Intragmentation” as a Method Aims and Structure of the Book References Contents Chapter 1: Regional Geopolitics: EU Integration Perspectives, Nationalistic Revivals, and External Actors EU Enlargement and the Europeanization Process in the Western Balkans The Geopolitical Awakening of the Western Balkans: The Balkan Route Non-EU Actors in the Western Balkans: An Assessment Reconciliation and Ethno-Nationalism Conclusion Chapter 2: Embedding the Regional Market? Economies in Transition The Regional Economic Outlook International Competitiveness and Attractiveness Intra-regional Trade The Open Balkan Proposal Open Balkan: Initial Reactions Across the Region The Significance of Open Balkan The Core-Periphery Model of Analysis: Still Valid for the Future? Non-EU Actors and the Challenges to EU Convergence Conclusion Chapter 3: Socio-demographic Challenges: Migration and Territorial Impacts When Data Are Political: Preliminary Considerations on the WB6’s Statistical “Black Hole” Overview of Demographic Features Territorial Perspectives Internal Migration Regional and International Migration Irregular Migration and the Participation of WB6 Citizens in the Balkan Route Inequality, Corruption, and Protest Conclusion Conclusions References