Cooperation of the Western Balkans States: Opportunity to Overcome Security Challenges

Abstract

The Western Balkans is dominated by its geographical position, which, after the end of the Cold War in the 1990s, was one of the regions that experienced the most difficult transition because this process was accompanied by bilateral and multilateral conflicts, with local and regional wars, with political and ethnic clashes. As a consequence, it was also politically fragmented on its map. The international community actively intervened in the Balkans with various civilian and military missions, respectively during the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and North Macedonia (former FYROM). These international interventions have yielded concrete results in the process of overall democratic reforms of the countries of the region, with particular emphasis on the security field, as well as the aspect of integration reforms in both NATO and the EU.

Fragmentation of the Western Balkans came for many historical, political, economic, military, geopolitical and strategic reasons. This process also had consequences for the integration process of this region. But it is currently fully oriented towards European and Euro-Atlantic structures. No Balkan countries including Kosovo have any other orientations besides these (there are doubts about Serbia). Serbia has stated that it does not want NATO membership, while Russia has tried and is constantly trying to cause chaos in the Western Balkans. How this chaos is caused and how the cooperation of the countries of this region has affected and is influenced is the essence of our work that will draw conclusions about how to act in the future.