The article attempts to assess the importance of informal networks in achieving internationally recognised academic standards set in four Balkan countries by the reform of higher education institutions and the International Relations (IR) profession in particular. Starting from the core-periphery division of the Global IR, the authors are examining the results of these reforms by focusing on the neoliberalisation of the university and the professional subordination of peripheral IR communities to the Western-dominated epistemic community (including ‘brain drain’ and recruitment of ‘organic’ intellectuals). Based on the interviews conducted with Balkan IR scholars, the authors conclude that informality is viewed as social capital, that is, a means of acquiring benefits by virtue of personal ties with the ‘gatekeepers’ of core IR. In that respect, interviewees suggest three possible solutions for overcoming the epistemic dependence of the Balkan IR community: development of local standards, stimulation of critical approach and better preparation for international standards, while the authors of the article also propose the fourth possibility: abandoning the core-periphery division, and thinking beyond geopolitical and geocultural divisions – the main idea behind the Global IR project.

中文翻译：

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巴尔干国际关系专业中的新自由主义增选、权力关系和非正式性

本文试图通过高等教育机构的改革，特别是国际关系 (IR) 专业的改革，评估非正式网络在实现四个巴尔干国家制定的国际公认学术标准方面的重要性。从全球 IR 的核心-外围部门开始，作者通过关注大学的新自由化和外围 IR 社区对西方主导的认知社区（包括“人才流失”）的专业从属关系来研究这些改革的结果和招募“有机”知识分子）。基于对巴尔干 IR 学者的采访，作者得出结论，非正式性被视为社会资本，即通过与核心 IR 的“守门人”的个人关系获得利益的一种手段。在这方面，