EU Leverage and National Interests in the B alkans: The Puzzles of Enlargement Ten Years On

• Published in: Journal of common market studies Vol. 52; no. 1; pp. 122 - 138
• Main Author: Vachudova, Milada Anna
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.01.2014
• ISSN: 0021-9886; 1468-5965
• DOI: 10.1111/jcms.12081

Abstract EU enlargement continues in the W estern B alkans in the 2010s because the underlying dynamics remain largely unchanged: EU Member States still see enlargement as a matter of national interest, bringing long‐term economic and geopolitical benefits. The risk of instability in the W estern B alkans has made the dividends from the EU 's ‘democratizing effect’ especially substantial. I argue that the enlargement process continues to have a ‘democratizing effect,’ as W estern B alkans candidates and proto‐candidates respond to the incentives of EU membership: political parties have changed their agendas to make them EU ‐compatible, and governments have implemented policy changes to move forward in the pre‐accession process. Yet the EU is taking on candidates with difficult initial conditions. I explore the changes the EU has made in order to exercise its leverage more effectively in the W estern B alkans and check whether these helped overcome the pre‐accession process' earlier problems with expertise, consistency and legitimacy.