ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳

 

EU440      Half Unit
The Balkans in Europe: Transition, Democratisation, Integration

This information is for the 2021/22 session.

Teacher responsible

Dr Spyridon Economides CBG 5.03 and Dr Vassilis Monastiriotis CBG 5.05

Availability

This course is available on the MSc in Conflict Studies, MSc in Culture and Conflict in a Global Europe, MSc in Culture and Conflict in a Global Europe (ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ & Sciences Po), MSc in European and International Public Policy, MSc in European and International Public Policy (ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ and Bocconi), MSc in European and International Public Policy (ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ and Sciences Po), MSc in Political Economy of Europe, MSc in Political Economy of Europe (ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ and Sciences Po) and MSc in The Global Political Economy of China and Europe (ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ and Fudan). This course is available as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

Course content

An examination of South East Europe from a politics, political economy and international relations perspective, with particular emphasis on post-1989 developments. Topics include: The Balkans in Europe and Historical Legacies; the Dissolution of Yugoslavia; The Western  Balkans and economic transition; the EU and the Balkans: regionalism and economic integration; Democratisation, state-building and Europeanisation in the Western Balkans; Conditionality and the mechanics of accession; the SEE2020 strategy and the structural reforms agenda; the Balkans and other external actors.

Teaching

This course is delivered through a combination of lectures and seminars totalling a minimum of 25 hours across Lent Term. The teaching will be delivered this year through a combination of online and on-campus formats (or if required, online only). This course includes a reading week in Week 6 of Lent Term, and a review session will be held at the start of the Summer Term to prepare for the online assessment.

Formative coursework

One 1,500 word essay.

Indicative reading

  • M. Todorova, Imagining the Balkans, Oxford University Press, 1997; 
  • M. Glenny, Balkans 1804-1999. Nationalism, War and the Great Powers, Granta Publishers, 1999;
  • S Woodward, Balkan Tragedy, Brookings Institute, 1995;
  • Lavigne M. (1999), The Economics of Transition, 2nd edition;
  • Petrakos G. and Totev S. (eds) (2001), The development of the Balkan region, Aldershot; S. RametThinking about Yugoslavia: Scholarly Debates about the Yugoslav Breakup and the Wars in Bosnia and Kosovo, Cambridge University Press, 2005;
  • Bartlett W. (2007), Europe's Troubled Region: Economic Development, Institutional Reform, and Social Welfare in the Western Balkans, Routledge; 
  • A. Elbasani, European Integration and Transformation in the Western Balkans: Europeanization or business as usual?,  Routledge, 2013;
  • Anastasakis O., Sanfey P. and Watson M. (eds) (2013), Defining a New Reform Agenda: paths to sustainable convergence in South East Europe, South East European Studies at Oxford, St Antony’s College, University of Oxford; EBRD (20