A Misnomer: Western Balkans

Teoman Tulun ()

No wfs2j, OSF Preprints from Center for Open Science

Abstract: As international news reflected widely, a masked gunmen stormed the parliament building in Macedonia. This is one of the latest attacks in a series of incidents in the EU-invented region of "Western Balkans". Has the rebuilding of the Balkans from the ground up brought about peace and prosperity to the Balkans? Russia is meddling in these countries' internal affairs. Due to this situation, there is a need for the European Union to step up as an actor. After the collapse of Yugoslavia, the political parties in the regional countries began to compete with each other in order to demonstrate that they are for the reforms and the democratization process dictated by the EU. For example, even center-right parties took up the issues that are not on their traditional agenda, such as gender equality that is usually in the domain of center-left parties, for taking credit in this competition. Another point that the academia and policy makers are focusing on is the argument that Russia is meddling in the region. It is argued that Russia is a destabilizing actor in the region. Another point is about the reality of the European Union in the region. Especially the academics argue that the European Union needs to step up and "save" the region. The foremost goal of the building of the concept of "Western Balkans" is to leave Turkey outside the Balkans and Europe. Actually, the real question is, (especially considereing the fact Turkey is geographically a Balkan country and has historically and culturally been part of the Balkans for decades) who is the real meddler in the Balkans: the European Union or Turkey? The rational way for the EU in securing the stability in the region is the elimination of the term of "Western Balkans" from its terminology and in reverting back to original concept of the Balkans, which will ensure the integrity of the region.

Date: 2017-07-09
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:osf:osfxxx:wfs2j

DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/wfs2j

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