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12. North Macedonia: What’s Next?
- Publication Date:
- 01-2019
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Open Society Foundations
- Abstract:
- In January 2019, Macedonia’s parliament approved, by a two-thirds majority, a constitutional amendment to change the country’s name to the Republic of North Macedonia. While this represented a major step toward North Macedonia’s ultimate goal of establishing a durable, stable democracy, the name change must still be endorsed by Greece’s parliament before it can go into full effect. But as a new report from the Open Society European Policy Institute shows, a newly-named North Macedonia would still face significant challenges—and opportunities. North Macedonia: What’s Next? examines the 2018 Prespa Agreement between neighboring Greece and North Macedonia, which laid out agreed upon conditions for resolving the longstanding dispute over Macedonia’s name, and what it means for the larger project of integrating the countries in the Western Balkans more fully into the political and economic systems of Europe, the British Isles, and the United States. The report further explores how key players—such as the European Union, NATO, Russia, other Western Balkans states—approach the Prespa Agreement, explains the significance of the name change in larger geopolitical terms, and offers insight into possible scenarios for the final resolution of this fraught and lengthy conflict.
- Topic:
- NATO, Democratization, Regional Cooperation, European Union, Democracy, Constitution, and Nation-State
- Political Geography:
- Balkans, Macedonia, and North Macedonia
13. From Enlargement to the Unification of Europe: Why the European Union needs a directorate general Europe for future members and association countries
- Author:
- Srđan Cvijić, Marie Jelenka Kirchner, Iskra Kirova, and Zoran Nechev
- Publication Date:
- 06-2019
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Open Society Foundations
- Abstract:
- The need for the European Union’s involvement in the Western Balkans, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine has never been more acute. The European Commission’s structures are not up to the job. A new approach is needed to respond to the realities on the ground and in member states. The European Union needs to boost the tools of the European Commission to move the process on from enlargement and move decisively towards the unification of Europe. This means creating a directorate general that would have the resources to drive forward the accession process with the Western Balkans countries and the ambitious trade and reform agenda in Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova. A new directorate general Europe could play this role.
- Topic:
- Regional Cooperation, Treaties and Agreements, Europe Union, Trade, and Economic Integration
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Ukraine, Moldova, and Balkans
14. Blinking Red Lights
- Author:
- Heather A Conley and Matthew Melino
- Publication Date:
- 08-2019
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
- Abstract:
- The Western Balkans have seen positive developments since the war of the 1990s, including European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) accession for some countries. Yet instability continues to affect some nations, particularly Bosnia-Herzegovina. This instability is partly due to the governing structure that emerged from the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords and has led to complete political gridlock, but increasingly stems from a resurgence in ethno-nationalist sentiment across the region. Some neighboring countries (Croatia, Serbia) and more distant ones (Turkey) are directly interfering in Bosnia’s domestic affairs in pursuit of their own ethnic and political interests. Unless domestic actors can stop this negative spiral, the three ethnic communities of Bosnia will increasingly be drawn to the ethnic divisions of the past for support and inspiration and lose hope in a positive future.
- Topic:
- NATO, Ethnic Conflict, Nationalism, Regional Cooperation, and Conflict
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Balkans, and Bosnia and Herzegovina
15. Towards the future in the Three Seas Region
- Author:
- Izabela Albrycht
- Publication Date:
- 02-2019
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute for Development and International Relations (IRMO)
- Abstract:
- Launched in 2016, the Three Seas Initiative (3SI) is designed to build cooperation and interconnectivity between 12 CEE countries through new cross-border infrastructures. The aim of the region’s political leaders is to leverage the economic growth to the extent in which it Kitarović, President of the Republic of Croatia at the Third 3SI Summit in 2018. She added: “substantial projects, such as energy supply corridors and communications infrastructure, as well as modernization of our economies through an extension of transportation links, will allow for the full integration of Central can contribute to the EU’s greater prosperity and at the same time tighten transatlantic bonds. Let us wish the 3S region yet another good year in which the 3S countries will see the materialisation of hopes”, stated Kolinda Grabar- Europe with the remainder of our continent. It will annul the artificial, but still lingering division between old and new, West and East Europe and it will most definitely contribute to a higher level of prosperity of Europe as a whole.”
- Topic:
- International Trade and Finance, Regional Cooperation, and Economic Cooperation
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Balkans, Croatia, and Central Europe
16. Presidential election in Serbia: A boost or setback for EU accession?
- Author:
- Krševan Antun Dujmović
- Publication Date:
- 03-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute for Development and International Relations (IRMO)
- Abstract:
- As Serbia braces itself for the presidential election on 2nd April 2017, the international community �inds itself puzzled with the prospect of future political orientation of this Balkan country. The biggest republic of ex-Yugoslavia, Serbia still bears the burden of the wars in the nineties, unde�ined relations with Kosovo and NATO bombing of 1999, due to which the country is still somewhat cautious toward Euro-Atlantic integration and the United States. It seems that Serbia seeks to join the European Union (EU), and at the same time to foment its relation with its traditional ally, the Russian Federation. In that respect, the current trends of foreign policy in Serbia are also visible in other Balkan countries, namely Macedonia and Montenegro, which like Serbia have strong links to their big Orthodox patron in the East, while striving to make progress on the path to the EU. This dichotomy between pro-European and pro-Russian forces in Serbia was exacerbated to a new level with Brexit and stalemate in the EU enlargement process, growing Russian in�luence in the region and expectations in Serbia that the newly inaugurated US president Donald Trump will bring a thaw in relations with Russia and allow a regionally more dominant Serbia, while curbing ambitions of Kosovar Albanians. This dichotomy has created a division in the country torn between its Western and Eastern ambitions that is visible in many aspects of Serbian society, candidates bare hallmark, or in Obradović, the leader of the Serbian Movement Dveri (Srpski pokret Dveri) is a clear example of a pro-Russian politician in Serbia, while independent candidate SašaJanković represents the voice of a civil and pro-European Serbia. The rest of the presidential candidates are positioned on a wide spectrum dividing Obradović and Janković, thus contributing to the rather short but at the same time very electri�ied presidential campaign.
- Topic:
- Regional Cooperation, Elections, Europe Union, and Brexit
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, Serbia, and Balkans
17. One Year Stranded and What’s Changed? An Update to the October 2016 Joint NGO Policy Brief on the Situation for Displaced Persons in Greece
- Author:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Publication Date:
- 03-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- It is one year since the introduction of Europe’s flawed migration policies to close borders along the Western Balkan route and return migrants and refugees to Turkey, leaving thousands stranded in Greece. This update provides an overview of the current situation in Greece, and sets out what eight national and international responding agencies see as the most urgent issues to address and the major concerns with Europe’s response to this crisis.
- Topic:
- Regional Cooperation, Refugee Crisis, Borders, and NGOs
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Turkey, Greece, Asia, and Balkans
18. Romanian–British Commercial Exchanges at the Lower Danube: The Consular Report of Percy Sanderson on the Year 1883
- Author:
- Cristian Constantin
- Publication Date:
- 07-2016
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Hiperboreea
- Institution:
- Balkan History Association
- Abstract:
- Researchers consider that the slight increase in commerce through Brăila and Galaţi after 1883 was mainly due to the reorientation of Romanian foreign trade by the dualist monarchy towards other European states. The Danube route-way regained some of its importance, although the port of Galaţi still suffered after the loss of the rich region of Southern Bessarabia and because of the inconvenient manner by which the town was linked to the Romanian railway system. Thus, the paper insists on the quantity and value of commercial exchanges (exports, imports), the grains, the main economic partners and the specific character of Brăila, Galaţi and Sulina in the Romanian economy. This study analyses the results of this fact upon the foreign commerce of the ports, as there are opinions that it had positive consequences for development of commerce and navigation at the Maritime Danube. The text proper is preceded by a short historical comment on the activity of the International Trade in the Lower Danube region.
- Topic:
- Regional Cooperation, Maritime Commerce, and Trade
- Political Geography:
- Britain, Europe, Balkans, and Romania
19. Post-Ottoman Coexistence
- Author:
- Rebecca Bryant
- Publication Date:
- 01-2016
- Content Type:
- Book
- Institution:
- Berghahn Books
- Abstract:
- In Southeast Europe, the Balkans, and Middle East, scholars often refer to the “peaceful coexistence” of various religious and ethnic groups under the Ottoman Empire before ethnonationalist conflicts dissolved that shared space and created legacies of division. Post-Ottoman Coexistence interrogates ways of living together and asks what practices enabled centuries of cooperation and sharing, as well as how and when such sharing was disrupted. Contributors discuss both historical and contemporary practices of coexistence within the context of ethno-national conflict and its aftermath.
- Topic:
- Imperialism, Nationalism, Regional Cooperation, and Sociology
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Middle East, Balkans, Ottoman Empire, and Southeast Europe
20. Turkey's "Zero Problems" Era in the Balkans
- Author:
- Mehmet Ugur Ekinci
- Publication Date:
- 10-2013
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
- Abstract:
- While some observers, referring to recent developments in the Middle East, are questioning whether Turkey's “zero problems with neighbours” doctrine is still in effect, Turkey's relations with the Balkans are enjoying their golden age. Since the mid-2000s, bilateral relations with all governments in the region have been in good terms, social and economic relations have intensified and Turkey's public image has become increasingly positive.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Regional Cooperation
- Political Geography:
- Turkey, Middle East, and Balkans