| Review of: | Endgame in the Balkans: Regime Change, European Style by E. Pond |
|---|---|
| Reviewed By: | Fotis Mavromatidis |
| Reviewed in: | Journal of Common Market Studies |
| Date accepted online: | 02/11/2007 |
| Published in print: | Volume 45, Issue 2, Pages 515-533 |
Book Reviews
This book begins with the question of whether the magnetic attraction of EU membership is strong enough to motivate the Balkans in undertaking painful reforms on the path of liberal democracy. The book describes the history of theYugoslav wars and then analyses the situation of each Balkan state in its process towards EU membership (chapters 2 to 9). The last two chapters claim to examine the question of EU attraction in detail. The chapters are well structured, with sections about the different situations of the ethnic groups that provide a clear view of each country's position.
In each chapter, there are interviews from both elites and local people that create a vivid narration, even though the author relies heavily on American resources and the American point of view towards the Balkans. However, the narrative is very descriptive and the whole effort of the writer to prove her argument fails due to many unnecessary details. Some narratives do not offer anything important and they do not refer to the issue of Europeanization. In fact, this is the main problem of the book, since the few references on the influence of the EU are mainly indirect and refer to the actions that the states are carrying out to achieve EU membership, instead of depicting the normative power of the EU to stimulate reforms. Thus, one can claim that the book is completely atheoretical.
Furthermore, despite an apparently balanced position over the events of Yugoslavia, there is a slight bias against the Serbs and the Serbian Orthodox church. Some of the many examples can be found in pp. 125-26, where the Croats appear as the visionaries for the united Balkans and the Serbs as the opposite. As for the church, an example is provided in pp. 224-30, where the Serbian church is accused of nationalism without taking into account the historical conditions that created it. Adding to this, one should mention the use of Balkan history by the author. Despite the well-defined coverage of the events after the Second World War and especially of the post-communist period, the use of older historic events contains many mistakes and wrong conclusions that depict a lack of knowledge of the history of the region and the idiosyncrasy of the Balkan populations. More importantly, the author ignores the real Balkan problem, which is the inability of every state to include its entire population.
This book can therefore only be recommended to anyone who wants a general overview of the Balkan situation, but not to someone dealing with the issue of Europeanization or who wants a more theoretical and academic book about the Balkan reality.