Democracy and State-building in the Western Balkans

Conference venue: University of Cambridge
Period: Sep. 5-7, 2011
Deadline for submitting abstracts: Jan. 15, 2011

The countries of the Western Balkans, in particular the former Yugoslav Republics (excluding Slovenia), Kosovo and Albania are all on the road towards membership in the European Union (EU). However the states that evolved after the break-up of Yugoslavia and Albania continue to face a number of challenges in the transitions from authoritarianism to democracy, socialist planned economy to market economy and in the integration process into European structures.

Furthermore, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Serbia, Croatia, FYR Macedonia and Montenegro also have to overcome the results of the violent break-up of Yugoslavia. Weak state-structures, corruption, unresolved minority issues and the direct influence of external actors on political decisions continue to be some of the main challenges for a number of countries in the region.

The panel therefore aims at assessing the state of democracy and state-building in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, FYR Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia.

Comparative as well as single-country studies that focus on the following core issues are welcomed:

Please note, the panel will be proposed for the conference, it cannot be guaranteed that it will be accepted.
It is planned that the papers will be published as a special issue of Nationalities Papers later.

Paper proposals should not be longer than 350 words and should be submitted together with a short biography to: keil.soeren@gmail.com

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