Ethnic peace from the outside-in? Only with domestic aid. The empowerment of CSOs in the EU enlargement in the Western Balkans and the impact on ethnic relations

Diplôme Master Ethnic peace from the outside-in? Only with domestic aid. The empowerment of CSOs in the EU enlargement in the Western Balkans and the impact on ethnic relations eng 2021-09-02 author Steiger Valeria Valentina 924019 director Stojanovic Nenad 0000-0002-3973-6045 501339 71 With the “promise of Thessaloniki” in 2003, the European Union paved the way for the countries of the Western Balkan toward membership. The accession process is framed by the strategy of political conditionality, according to which candidate countries must meet criteria in various areas in order to advance. However, the policy changes often remain formal reforms that do not necessarily translate into substantial improvements. The presence of an active domestic civil sector is a key factor in fostering the implementation of EU-induced reforms. Civil society organizations (CSOs) can do this inter alia by advocating for change, supplying information, or acting as local watchdogs. This research explores the empowerment of civil society through the EU accession process and takes the policy area of inter-ethnic relations as example to analyze their impact. Based on both document analysis and interviews with key players on the ground, the findings show a rather disillusioning picture: both the empowerment of CSOs through the EU accession process and their impact on inter-ethnic relations is limited. The domestic political context is identified as common cause for the shortcomings of both variables. Dewey 320 121 Département de science politique et relations internationales T3 false 2e9ef1d6-1c66-4fbb-9568-2508949a033e Master thesis Public Steiger Valeria.pdf 1289719 application/pdf openAccess Faculté des sciences de la société / Département de science politique et relations internationales

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Ethnic peace from the outside-in? Only with domestic aid. The empowerment of CSOs in the EU enlargement in the Western Balkans and the impact on ethnic relations				2021	105	110

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Steiger, Valeria Valentina