Rule of law and democracy in the Western Balkans: addressing the gap between policies and practice

Kmezic, Marko

doi:10.1080/14683857.2019.1706257

Cited by 34 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…For a comparative study on the impact of national identities on the process of accession see Subotic (2011) 6. For an overview of anti-EU sentiments and anti-democratic tendencies in WB see Damjanovski, Lavrič, and Naterer (2020) and Kmezić (2020).…”

Section: Source: Authors Own Compilationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Norms of belonging: emotion discourse as a factor in determining future “Europeans”

Terzi

2021

Global Affairs

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This article searches for the existence of emotion norms in the enlargement process of the EU. It argues that there is an appropriate emotion that needs to be expressed through the coordination and communication discourses of the European Commission and of the (European) Council. The article displays these norms through a critical discourse analysis of the enlargement strategy papers of the European Commission and the European Council conclusions in the 1997-2002 round of enlargement towards the Central and Eastern European countries. This analysis identifies the topoi that collectively form these emotion norms of enlargement. Afterwards the article analyses the same type of documents on the Western Balkans between 2014 and 2020 through periods of stalling and reinvigoration to demonstrate the resonance between these institutional discourses. It concludes that progress in the enlargement process takes place if both types of discourses conform to the emotion norms of enlargement.

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Section: Source: Authors Own Compilationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Norms of belonging: emotion discourse as a factor in determining future “Europeans”

Terzi

2021

Global Affairs

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“…The six included states are: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia. These Western Balkans countries have built a democratic façade but in reality, political elites rely on informal structures, clientelism and control over the media [35]. The welfare systems in Western Balkan states follow a pattern of post-communist welfare state regimes, except from Albania and Kosovo that have much lower coverage of social assistance and social insurance [36].…”

Section: The States Represented By the Participantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Best practice of digital government in emerging democracies: Illustrations, challenges and reflections of state building processes

Wihlborg

Kulanovic²,

Kaharevic

et al. 2021

Proceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences

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Digital government applications and models often add layers to existing structures, organizations, and routines to facilitate public services. In most states digital government is thus added to established structures and organizations, but what happens when egovernment develop at as an integrated part of new state building? This is the overall question in this paper presenting an analysis of best practices of e-government in six countries in the Western Balkans

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“…However, corruption is only one of the negative factors challenging the rule of law initiative in the Western Balkans. Crucially, there is also very little political will—both to fight this corruption and to strengthen the rule of law overall—in semi-authoritarian political systems (Kmezić 2020 ).…”

Section: The Eu Rule Of Law Initiative and Policy Experimentation In mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite EU conditions on curbing corruption and ensuring institutions (particularly the judicial system) are free of political influence, many governments across the Western Balkans have so far failed to show any true political will to strengthen the rule of law (Kmezić 2020 ). Political elites have excessive and unchecked power, and there are limited mechanisms to hold them to account.…”

Section: The Eu Rule Of Law Initiative and Policy Experimentation In mentioning

confidence: 99%

The EU Rule of Law Initiative Towards the Western Balkans

Hoxhaj

2020

Hague J Rule Law

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The EU adopted a new enlargement strategy for the Western Balkans countries in 2018, provided a time frame for Serbia and Montenegro potentially to join the Union by 2025, and outlined the next steps for accession for Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and North Macedonia. In March 2020, the EU gave the green light to the opening of accession talks with North Macedonia and Albania, and also introduced a new reformed ‘accession talks’ framework. The strengthening of the rule of law, fighting corruption and organised crime are the cornerstones of the EU-Western Balkans strategy of 2018 and the new accession talks framework of 2020. This article examines the latest enlargement policy developments in 2018–2020 by conceptualising how the EU promotes the rule of law in the Western Balkans thorough its new enlargement policy package. Furthermore, the article offers an in-depth analysis of the case of Albania, where the EU has experimented with some of its latest enlargement-policy ideas in regard to the rule of law. The article also offers some proposals and insights on how the EU rule of law initiative of 2018 can be improved, in order to become more transformative in strengthening the rule of law in countries of the Western Balkans.

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Rule of law and democracy in the Western Balkans: addressing the gap between policies and practice

Cited by 34 publications

References 19 publications

Norms of belonging: emotion discourse as a factor in determining future “Europeans”

Norms of belonging: emotion discourse as a factor in determining future “Europeans”

Best practice of digital government in emerging democracies: Illustrations, challenges and reflections of state building processes

The EU Rule of Law Initiative Towards the Western Balkans

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