The Western Balkans on Their Way to the EU?

The EU stated that «the future of the Western Balkans rests within the European Union». On an economic level, however, the establishment of a market economy and the capability to stand the competition in the single market have been formulated as prerequisites for an EU-accession. As the contributions to this book from experts of the region demonstrate, strategies to create the demanded competitive structures in the countries of the Western Balkans vary, depending on the different stages of development, inherited economic structures and the previous transition and integration process. In this context, the articles mainly concentrate on the actual economic development, trade performance, the attraction of FDI and endogenous determinants of competitiveness as education and innovation in the analysed economies. This book follows the first compendium on the region edited by S. Kui. «Path-Dependent Development in the Western Balkans The Impact of Privatization», published 2005 by Peter Lang.

Autorentext

The Editors: SiniSa KuSic, assistant professor at the University of Frankfurt am Main; research sojourns in Australia, Croatia, and Russia; publications on privatization, FDI, trade, entrepreneurship, competitiveness, and EU-integration with focus on South East Europe and the Western Balkans; member of the working group for preparation of negotiations of the Republic of Croatia with the EU.
Claudia Grupe, studies in law and economics at the University of Frankfurt am Main; student in the Ph.D. program in economics at the University of Frankfurt am Main, School of Business and Economics; presentations at international conferences in China, Croatia, and Serbia and Montenegro; publications on innovation, competitiveness, and financial markets with focus on the Western Balkans.

Inhalt
Contents: Paulina Biernacka: The Impact of the Bosnian State Structure on the Economic Relations between the European Union and Bosnia and Hercegovina Daniel Göler: Integration and Peripherisation Processes in the Western Balkans - Problems of Regional Development in Albania Vedran Horvat: Circulation of Intellectual Capital in South-Eastern Europe - Assuring Transition Isa Mulaj: Trade Performance and Foreign Direct Investment in Kosovo during the United Nations Administration as the Determinants of a Distinctive Path of Transition towards the European Union Sinia Kui/Claudia Grupe: Scrutinising EU Policy: Does Intra-Regional Cooperation in the Western Balkans Contribute to Economic Progress?