Kosovo is one of several Western Balkan countries that are part of the next round of accession to the EU. Like Bosnia, Serbia, and Croatia, it is also a country in which the history of conflict is recent and the benefits of EU membership ought to be a strong economic and political enticement to meet the standards necessary for membership. Yet, instead of major transformation of the post-conflict society towards democratization, economic development, and a robust human rights regime, the prospect of European Union membership appears to be leading to superficial legal changes without enforcement. This article investigates the tensions between internal challenges to legal change and external pressures for reform, adding to the literature on the decoupling of Europeanization and domestic change in candidate countries. A short analysis of one policy area, women’s property rights, illuminates the gaps between legal change and enforcement processes. The article also considers how and when a change in law can lead to social change. It is argued here that legal change in response to EU conditionalities may begin superficially, but creates an opportunity for collective action that can eventually lead to democratic change and a more robust enforcement of law.

中文翻译：

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外部条件与制度变迁

科索沃是下一轮加入欧盟的一部分西巴尔干国家之一。像波斯尼亚，塞尔维亚和克罗地亚一样，它也是一个冲突历史最近的国家，欧盟加入欧盟的好处应该是强烈的经济和政治诱惑，以满足加入欧盟所需的标准。然而，取代冲突后社会向民主化，经济发展和健全的人权制度的重大转变，欧洲联盟成员的前景似乎正在导致表面上的法律变革，而无需执行。本文研究了法律变革的内部挑战与改革的外部压力之间的紧张关系，并增加了有关欧洲化与候选国家国内变革脱钩的文献。对一个政策领域，即妇女财产权的简短分析，阐明了法律改革与执法程序之间的差距。本文还考虑了法律变更如何以及何时导致社会变革。有人认为，针对欧盟条件的法律变革可能只是表面上的开始，但为集体行动创造了机会，最终可能导致民主变革和更强有力的法律实施。