The Bright side of Balkan Politics: Cooperation in the Balkans

Abstract

Despite the legacy of Balkan Wars early in the twentieth century and some deeply conflictual relations in the Balkans, examples of cooperation have not been scarce in the region. Cooperation efforts started in 1930 and continued in the 1950s and the 1960s. However, post-war attempts at cooperation failed mostly due to the Cold War environment, which set apart Greece and Turkey on the other hand and their Balkan neighbours on the other. Such efforts were revived in the late 1980s, while in the 1990s the Yugoslav conflicts delayed cooperation initiatives but also proved their necessity. Without denying the existence of disputes, most Balkan states have managed to develop their bilateralrelations and to participate in regional cooperation schemes. In the 1990s Balkan countries have been involved in a number of initiatives, which can be classified in three categories: first, mostly economic cooperation schemes; second, political cooperation schemes; and third, military cooperation schemes. From 1996 to 1998, multilateral meetings of Balkan leaders took place. Currently, several schemes, initiated by the EU and the US, are still under way. The further success of cooperation schemes will depend on the full commitment of interested parties, on the non-exclusionary character of the schemes, and on good management of financial resources. © 2002 Frank Cass & Co. Ltd. All rights reserved.