Assessing EU foreign policy capacity of democratization via political conditionality in Western Balkans/case study Macedonia

Session

Political Science

Description

Political developments in South Eastern Europe raise serious doubts that the European Union will be able to repeat its success story of democratization via political conditionality as it is widely acknowledged in Central and Eastern Europe. This article shows that EU foreign policy incentive based instruments are only suitable for triggering democratic change under certain domestic preconditions in countries characterized by legacies of ethnic conflict and minority rights such as the case of Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia 2001/2005. It argues that if national identity contradicts democratic requirements, it will result in non-compliance by framing it by national governments as inappropriate action. The argument is empirically demonstrated using the example of one of the most problematic issue areas in Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, for which the EU has partially succeeded in bringing about democratic change: inter-ethnic relations. This article researches the impact of EU foreign policy in recent political and institutional crisis in Macedonia. By focusing in particular in easing the compromising process for the political solutions amongst political parties, the paper demonstrates EU foreign policy overall successfully handled the political situation and brought Macedonia back to the European track. The paper concludes that there is an important lesson to be learned from Macedonia’s political crisis when it comes to the EU foreign policy when speaking with a single voice.

Keywords:

EU foreign policy, conditionality, democratization, sustainability of political solutions

Session Chair

Lulzim Peci

Session Co-Chair

Labinot Greiçevci & Ylber Sela

Proceedings Editor

Edmond Hajrizi

ISBN

978-9951-437-69-1

Location

Pristina, Kosovo

Start Date

27-10-2018 1:30 PM

End Date

27-10-2018 3:00 PM

DOI

10.33107/ubt-ic.2018.387

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Oct 27th, 1:30 PM Oct 27th, 3:00 PM

Assessing EU foreign policy capacity of democratization via political conditionality in Western Balkans/case study Macedonia

Pristina, Kosovo

Political developments in South Eastern Europe raise serious doubts that the European Union will be able to repeat its success story of democratization via political conditionality as it is widely acknowledged in Central and Eastern Europe. This article shows that EU foreign policy incentive based instruments are only suitable for triggering democratic change under certain domestic preconditions in countries characterized by legacies of ethnic conflict and minority rights such as the case of Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia 2001/2005. It argues that if national identity contradicts democratic requirements, it will result in non-compliance by framing it by national governments as inappropriate action. The argument is empirically demonstrated using the example of one of the most problematic issue areas in Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, for which the EU has partially succeeded in bringing about democratic change: inter-ethnic relations. This article researches the impact of EU foreign policy in recent political and institutional crisis in Macedonia. By focusing in particular in easing the compromising process for the political solutions amongst political parties, the paper demonstrates EU foreign policy overall successfully handled the political situation and brought Macedonia back to the European track. The paper concludes that there is an important lesson to be learned from Macedonia’s political crisis when it comes to the EU foreign policy when speaking with a single voice.