Results found: 2

Search results

Sort By:

Limit search:

Assessing the Europeanization of Bosnia and Herzegovina: A litmus test for the European Union

100%

Brljavac B.

Human Affairs

2011

vol. 21

issue 4

403-421

The concept of Europeanization has become very popular in studies of European integration and particularly in analyses on the post-communist countries undergoing extensive transformation on the road to European Union membership. Although the Europeanization process has been quite successful in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), the same scenario has not played out in the western Balkans region. With the purpose of analysing the effectiveness and impact of the Europeanization process in the western Balkans, the main subject of the paper is Bosnia and Herzegovina’s EU-related reform processes. Although Bosnia has been undergoing thorough Europeanizing reforms since the late 1990s, when the country entered the Stabilization and Association Process (SAP), it is still an unstable and dysfunctional country. That makes it the perfect case for assessing the possible shortcomings of the Europeanization process. Thus far, most scholars have concluded that domestic political elites in Bosnia are the only party responsible for Bosnia’s political deadlock. However, this paper analyses the continued Bosnian deadlock from a different perspective, trying to figure out the degree of responsibility the European Union shares in the country’s Europeanization process. Although uncooperative Bosnian political elites are to a great extent responsible for the continued political and social status quo, EU leaders are not faultless either. In fact, so far European leaders have often appeared to be deeply divided, incoherent, and short-sighted in terms of Europeanization policies in Bosnia, thus further deepening the political deadlock in the country. Therefore, we can ask whether Bosnia represents a litmus test which the EU has failed.

ETHNO-NATIONALIST WELTANSCHAUUNG IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA ON THE ROAD TO THE EUROPEAN UNION

100%

Brljavac B.

Studia Humanistyczne AGH

2012

vol. 11

issue 1

Despite the fact that Bosnia and Herzegovina have been going through a deep and thorough Europeanisation process since the late 1990s it is interesting and puzzling as well that the country still has not achieved the expected level of democratic consolidation. Especially, it is of utmost importance to pay attention the increasing political domination of ethnic-nationalist political forces in the post-war Bosnia which tend to institutionally marginalize citizens of the minority groups and those who declare themselves as non-nationalists. Such a discriminatory process clearly opposes the country’s aspirations towards European Union membership. Thus, in this article I investigate the process of the post-war ethno-nationalist paradigm which has brought about deep discrimination against the so-called Others as they are defined in the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The article comes with the conclusion that post-war Bosnian democracy has included a number of institutional shortcomings and serious deficiencies thus resulting in an ethnocratic regime which excludes everyone who does not feel part of such a regime. Thus, the current process of an ethno-nationalisation has clearly blocked further progress of the country towards the future European Union membership.

Refine search results

1 Human Affairs

1 Studia Humanistyczne AGH

2 Brljavac B.

1 2012

1 2011

Search results

Assessing the Europeanization of Bosnia and Herzegovina: A litmus test for the European Union

ETHNO-NATIONALIST WELTANSCHAUUNG IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA ON THE ROAD TO THE EUROPEAN UNION