THE POSITION OF NATIONAL MINORITIES IN THE WESTERN BALKAN COUNTRIES

Abstract

The paper analyzes the position of national minorities in the Western Balkans region, with an emphasis on the countries created through former SFR Yugoslavia’s dissolution, which are characterized as new national states. It has been pointed to the specificities of this form of national state, primarily nationalism as the basis in all the domains of functionality, which is the main reason for the negative relation toward minorities. The accession to the European Union is the main motivation factor toward solving the issues of the minorities in this region. The situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina is especially complicated considering that the specific solution of national minorities’ status is one of the causes of stagnation of this country in European integration process.

Keywords

• new national state
• national minorities
• sfr yugoslavia