Managing Social Justice and Democratizing Citizenship in the Western Balkans

ABSTRACT.This paper discusses the major trends in scholarship about the EU's role in the Western Balkans, regional cooperation and cooperation between the EU and the Western Balkans in the field of JHA, and the success of EU crisis management in the Western Balkans. The results of the current study converge with prior research on ethnopolitical conflicts in Europe, the EU's crisis management capabilities, and regional cooperation in the Western Balkans in the JHA area.JEL Codes: A13, H7, N4Keywords: Western Balkans; social justice; EU; conflict1. IntroductionWe are specifically interested in how previous research investigated the EU's experience in the Western Balkans, current crisis management operations in the Western Balkans, the EU's focus regarding the Western Balkans on regional cooperation and mutual trust in the field of JHA, and the gap between the Western Balkan states and the EU. The theory that we shall seek to elaborate here puts considerable emphasis on the EU's evolving capabilities in the fields of conflict prevention and crisis management, the EU's performance in managing ethnopolitical aises in Europe, and the rule of law and economic development in the Western Balkans.2. The EU's Evolving Capabilities in the Fields of Conflict Prevention and Crisis ManagementStrengthening judicial cooperation has been one of the key priorities for the EU. The common principles and values of the EU are vigorously imposed on the Western Balkans. Since Bulgaria and Romania joined the EU on 1 January 2007, the Western Balkans are completely surrounded by EU Memba States. The EU is strict towards the Western Balkans regarding fulfillment of requirements in the justice and home affairs (JHA) area, noncompliance undermining the entire system based on mutual trust. (Spreeuw, 2012) The EU is a community of values in which democracy, human rights and the rule of law should take on concrete meaning (Bacalu, 2013) for the benefit of all citizens (Sanchez de Madariaga, 2013) in each member state, uses its ability to conclude bilateral agreements with third parties to put any crisis management cooperation on solid legal foundations (Hunter, 2013b), and plays an outstanding role as regional pacifier and mediator of conflicts in the Western Balkans. Ethnopolitical conflict has immediate and longa-term consequences for socio-economic (Nicolaescu, 2013b) and environmental security. A new security architecture is emerging slowly and different intanational organizations (Cremers, 2013) play their part and contribute to a cooperative security order (Hunter, 2013a), with mandates, instruments and policies that enable them to face existing and emaging security challenges. Dependency on NATO resources may be a problem for the EU's ability to implement its aisis management operations (Praga, 2013) autonomously. The provision of long-term funds for Common Foreign Security Policy (CFSP) activities has not been a shortage of financial means that has impeded EU policy towards the Western Balkans. The two dimensions of coordination and cooperation capabilities (Yuan, 2013) within the EU (a horizontal one and a vertical one) have worked reasonably well in the Western Balkans of late. Crisis management operations in the Western Balkans are integrated into a broada comprehensive strategy towards the region. The limited aisis management opaations (Nicolaescu, 2013a) that the EU is conducting in the Western Balkans are valuable for its future role as an important international actor. (Wolff and Peen Rodt, 2010)Significant political changes towards democracy have taken place and societies show increasing willingness to face the past in Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia. The courts in Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia are well-prepared for war aimes prosecution. In Bosnia, as a large number of war crimes cases are pending, it is a huge challenge for the judiciary to cope with them in an adequate time frame. The difficult state structure and political divide impede both effective collaboration between legal institutions in Bosnia and regional cooperation. …