1\. Introduction 2\. Hitting its Borders: The Domestic Impact of Europe on the
Western Balkans 2.1 What Does it Take? Factors Mediating the Transformative
Power of Europe 2.2 Limited Statehood and the Western Balkans: The Missing
Link 2.3 Statehood and Progress towards EU Accession 2.4 The EU as a State-
Builder? 3\. Conclusions LiteratureThe EU seeks to transform the domestic structures of the Western Balkan
countries in order to foster peace, stability and prosperity in the region
ridden by war and ethnic conflict. Unlike in case of the Mediterranean and
Newly Independent States, the EU has even offered its South Eastern European
neighbors a membership perspective. Whether the “golden carrot” is big enough,
however, to draw the Western Balkans closer to Europe, is still an open
question. Croatia has made sufficient progress to successfully conclude
accession negotiations in the years to come. The EU rewarded domestic reforms
in Macedonia and Montenegro with granting them candidate status, which Serbia
is likely to receive in the near future. Albania, by contrast, appears to be
more reluctant to engage in the changes necessary to get even with Macedonia
and Montenegro. Bosnia Herzegovina and Kosovo, finally, are seriously lagging
behind and have not even applied for membership. Can Europeanization
approaches account for the differential impact of the EU in the Western
Balkans? The paper argues that problems of limited statehood have seriously
curbed the transformative power of the EU in the Western Balkans - despite
their membership perspective. Not only has the EU exerted less pressure for
adaptation on Western Balkan governments. Weak state capacities and ethnic
conflicts have reduced both their willingness and capacity to implement the
acquis communautaire. Given its lack of experience in state building, the EU
is ill-equipped to address these problems. This results in a serious dilemma.
On the one hand, the EU has offered the Western Balkans a membership
perspective to stabilize the region and overcome problems caused by weak and
contested statehood. On the other hand, it is the limited statehood of Western
Balkan countries, which undermines their compliance with EU norms and rules