CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2018
| Author | Begic, Dzeneta |
|---|---|
| Title | Russia's Resurgence in the Western Balkans: Effects on the Political and Social Context of the EU Negotiations of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| Summary | Pressing issues such as the global financial crisis of 2007, the European financial crisis, Brexit, the rise of the far right, and the large influx of refugees into Europe have shifted the EU's focus away from the integration of the Western Balkans into the bloc. At the same time, Russia has been trying to reassert its position in the international arena as a global actor and to present the Western Balkans states with an alternative to the Euro-Atlantic model of liberal democracy. Wanting to assess the influence of Russia's increasing involvement in the region on the political and social context of the EU negotiations of the Western Balkans states, this research looks at growing cooperation between Russia and Serbia and Russia and the Republic of Srpska, one of the two entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This thesis, unlike the majority of contemporary literature on the EU enlargement and on Russia's influence in the Western Balkans, addresses the processes of political, social, and cultural convergence of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina towards the EU with a consideration of the Russian Federation as an external factor. By assessing political developments in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, changes in the public attitudes of citizens towards the EU and Russia, and the EU's changing position on the progress the two countries have made in their EU negotiations process, this thesis argues that Serbia's and the Republic of Srpska's intensifying cooperation with Russia has influenced a slowing down of the process of political, social, and cultural convergence of the two countries towards the EU. This slowdown could be expected to influence the EU negotiations of the two countries. |
| Supervisor | Merlingen, Michael |
| Department | International Relations MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2018/begic_dzeneta.pdf |
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