A THEORETICAL ANALYSIS OF THE NATIONAL IDENTITY CONCEPT ON THE EUROPENIZATION PROCESS OF WESTERN BALKANS: AN EXAMPLE OF SERBIA

Abstract

With the end of the bipolar structure, states wanted to guarantee their places in the system through European Union in the Balkans. Serbia is one of the important states in the Western Balkans that hardly adapted to the changes in the system because of the Serbian nationalism. This article will discuss the reasons for the delay in Europeanization process of Serbia referring to the concept of nationalism, which had the greatest influence on Serbia’s EU process. This study will explain why Serbia’s path towards European integration has been so much difficult. After analyzing the dissolution process of countries from Yugoslavia, it will focus on the two important theories which are identity convergence and identity divergence mechanisms in order to better analyze the European integration of Serbia. This article will reveal Serbia’s reluctance to accept European nationalism by exploring the role of the national identity concept on the Europeanization process. This article concludes that, the transformation of domestic policies that are linked with the EU were failed in Serbia, identity divergence mechanism became a driven force in delaying rapid EU enlargement and political leaders’ strategies became unsuccessful to pursue EU norms and standards. In this research paper, a qualitative study was conducted using methodological pluralism and historical comparative research methods.