Western Balkans in the Discourse of the EU and the Balkan Countries from the Standpoint of Balkanism Critique

Abstract

The article analyzes the concept of Western Balkans, introduced and promoted in official documents of the European Union to designate the countries of the former Yugoslavia (without Slovenia) and Albania. The author considers this concept to be an artificial administrative term used to denote transitional position of the Balkan countries that have not completed the process of European integration yet. In this regard, new trends in the symbolic geography of the Balkan peninsula are treated from the standpoint of Balkanism critique. Balkanism, by analogy with orientalism, is understood as attributing specific negative features to the Balkan region, which are a reflection of the Western dominance model. It is noted that in the EU discourse, the vision of the region is connected with a controversy about the need for further expansion by including countries with conflicts in the past and the present. The negative image of the Balkans forms the imperative of "exporting stability" to the periphery of Europe, and the territory appears as a space of expertise and control. However, at the same time the Western Balkans are no longer perceived only as a geopolitical problem, but are also considered as part of European civilization. The discourse of the Balkan countriestendsto interpret the new geographical concept either neutrally or as a manipulation, which depends on their position in the region and in relation to the EU. The critical reflection of the concept is mainly associated with the tendency to lose political independence and attempts to recreate the union of South Slavic peoples in a new format.

Keywords

• westernbalkans
• symbolic geography
• balkanism
• orientalism
• european integration
• europeanization
• former yugoslavia
• post-yugoslav space
• discourse analysis