ABSTRACT

Clientelism has played a key role in consolidation of informal power politics in the Western Balkans. While focusing on Serbia and Kosovo, we argue that such networks and the ruling political and economic elites have become inseparable, having a direct influence on the two countries’ EU integration process. By analysing the Serbia-Kosovo-EU triangle, we address the form and content of the system engineered by the Belgrade and Priština elites and establish its relevance for the EU’s stabilitocratic efforts and policy towards the said region. Our findings largely complement the scholarship claiming that the EU’s transformative power in democratization and Europeanization of the region has fallen victim to Brussels’ geopolitical stability aims, thus failing to induce domestic structural changes in the said region.

摘要

客户主义在西部巴尔干地区巩固非正式权力政治中发挥了关键作用。在关注塞尔维亚和科索沃的同时，我们认为，这样的网络与统治的政治和经济精英已经密不可分，直接影响了两国的欧盟一体化进程。通过分析塞尔维亚-科索沃-欧盟的三角关系，我们讨论了贝尔格莱德和普里什蒂纳精英设计的系统的形式和内容，并确定了其与欧盟对该地区的稳定化努力和政策的相关性。我们的发现在很大程度上补充了学者的观点，该学者声称欧盟在该地区民主化和欧洲化中的变革力量已成为布鲁塞尔地缘政治稳定目标的受害者，因此未能在该地区引发国内结构变化。