New Dynamics of Contestation in EU-Western Balkan Relations

This publication aims to identify different forms, levels, and mechanisms of contestation by putting an analytical focus on who (actors engaging in contestation) contests what (the substance of contestation) and how (modes of contestation) in the Western Balkans.

Amidst growing geopolitical confrontation, the consolidation of authoritarian tendencies, a staggering liberal order and a protracted European integration process, the Western Balkan countries are adapting to the contestation in their region. The Global Strategy of the European Union (2016) locates the EU in an ever more connected, contested, and complex world, characterised by a “more fragmented distribution of power” and “growing uncertainty and rivalry”. The Strategic Compass for Security and Defence (2022) locates the EU in an environment of wars, threats, and security challenges. This rivalry, competition for influence, and need for security are particularly discernible in the Western Balkan countries. While there is ample literature on the “actorness” of the European Union in the region, on the workings of conditionality or new approaches to enlargement (sectoral or staged accession), little is known about how the Western Balkan states adapt to contestation, how this affects their approach towards European integration and how this contestation promotes or constrains their path towards EU membership.

Doris Wydra is Senior Researcher at the University of Salzburg, Germany.

Klaudia Koxha is a researcher at the University of Salzburg, Germany, and Junior researcher, University of Lausanne, Switzerland.

Klodiana Beshku is Associate Professor of the Department of Political Sciences of the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tirana, Albania.