EU Conditionality and Ethnic Coexistence in the Balkans: Macedonia and Bosnia in a Comparative Perspective

Abstract

In this article, the practice and theory of conditionality as it has applied to Bosnia and Macedonia is explored. The goals are twofold: first, to analyse how the EU uses conditionality to bring about favourable changes in the relationship between ethnic groups; second, to shed light on why the effectiveness of conditionality has been so variable between each context. The author argues that whereas the EU's main focus in previous eastward enlargements was on the production of normative policy outcomes, its primary focus in Bosnia and Macedonia has been to generate normative procedures. In addition, attention is drawn to the transformation of ethnic preferences that has occurred in Macedonia and the hardening of ethnic preferences that has occurred in Bosnia in the course of accession politics. These divergent outcomes are explained on the basis of several factors: power-shifts, framing strategies, reform parties and external agents.