The Woodrow Wilson Center Press
Embracing Democracy in the Western Balkans
Leonard J. Cohen and John R. Lampe
Related Topics: Democracy, Democratic Transition, Europe, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Western Balkans
Cohen and Lampe offer a comparative, cross-regional study of the politics and economics of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo, and Albania from 1999 until the present. It is during this period that the first wave of post-communist regime transition ended and the region became more deeply involved in the challenges of democratic consolidation. The authors explore the legacies of communist rule, the impact of incentives and impediments on reform, and the magnetic pull of European Union accession. The authors ask whether the Western Balkans are embracing democracy by creating functional, resilient institutions—governmental, administrative, journalistic, and economic—and fostering popular acceptance and trust in the legitimacy of those institutions.
What People are Saying
This book presents new information which is the result of recent research. The scholarship is superior. Readers can be sure that they are getting a complete picture.
—Nick Miller
Boise State University
Chapter List
List of Tables and Figures x
Preface xiii
Introduction: The Challenges of Postconfl ict Democracy Building 1
1 Legacies of Communism, Conflict, and International
Intervention 22
2 New Regimes, Old Routines: Institutional Innovations and
Governance Challenges 71
3 Administrative Development, the Rule of Law, and the
Struggle against Corruption 117
4 Civic Engagement, Gender Politics, and Media Pluralism:
Political Cultures in Flux 168
5 The Transformation of Political Parties in the Western Balkans:
From Embryonic Pluralism to Europeanization 223
6 The Social Basis for Democratic Development: Elites, Middle
Classes, and the Struggle against Poverty 297
7 The Transformation of Values: Coexisting Democratic
and Illiberal Beliefs 350
8 Belated Economic Transitions: Promise and Problems 386
9 Democracy Building and EU Accession during a Global
Recession 448
Epilogue: The Western Balkans and Postauthoritarian Lessons 492
List of Abbreviations 511
Index 515
