The EU's Stability-Democratisation Dilemma in the Western Balkans: the case of Serbia

Abstract

The European Union (EU) is a unique player in the Western Balkans where, since the 1990s, it has employed a wide array of foreign policy instruments: diplomacy, trade, financial assistance, civilian and military missions, and enlargement which is the EU’s most successful foreign policy tool. Therefore, the region is an inspiring case for studying the EU’s transformative power. Despite the fact that the EU has been the main driver for change, the Europeanisation of this post-conflict region has been slow, which can largely be explained by high compliance costs, strong domestic veto players, and the inconsistent use of conditionality due to the stability-democratisation dilemma. This dilemma is likely to be even more pronounced in the future. Although there is no war in the Western Balkans, the region is facing other latent security challenges such as organised crime, terrorism, and irregular migration. How should security threats be faced in the absence of strong institutions? Serbia’s accession process reveals a weakness in that country's democratic, judicial, and law enforcement institutions, which can only reinforce the EU's stability-democratisation dilemma.