Cross-border cultural relations of Croatia and Serbia: Milk and honey if money is involved

Abstract

With the rise of creative industries, culture in international relations achieves strong competitive economic advantages. At the same time, it is often a fertile tool in reconciliation between conflicted communities and long-term consolidation of their relations. Economic peace theory claims economic interdependence as being the key factor in achieving peace between communities. Starting from this premise, this paper analysed the success of specific EU funding within cross-border cooperation schemes between Croatia and Serbia in enhancing social relations between the two states and their cooperation, as indirect effects. Adapted Conflict Management and Mitigation Matrix (CMM) served as a basis to confirm the assumption that international relations are enhanced if direct economic benefits for the communities are involved. The research confirmed this assumption and provided recommendations for future EU financial instruments.

Keywords

• cultural cooperation
• economic peace theory
• croatia
• serbia
• european union