The Idea of a Balkan Commonwealth or Confederation. A Realistic Perspective or a Utopia?
Abstract
For centuries, the Balkan Peninsula has been used as the road connecting Eastern Mediterranean and Europe. It is an area of great strategic, economic and cultural signifiance and a place of common interests for all the nations living there for centuries. After their formation as sovereign states (mainly after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and recently after the Breakup of Yugoslavia), the new Balkan States try to find their geopolitical position on the European map. There are many questions which arise when one thinks about the current situation of those states. Is it possible for the Balkan states to successfully cooperate on a political, economic and strategic basis? Is it necessary to create a union of partially sovereign states (i.e. a confederation) or a looser structure (i.e. a commonwealth) is enough? And finally, is this a way to strengthen democracy and security and consolidate these states’ positions in international relations?
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17951/bc.2018.3.9-20
Date of publication: 2019-07-15 10:25:38
Date of submission: 2019-02-07 14:21:53
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