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Regional Cooperation in South East Europe and Beyond. Challenges and Prospects, edited by Wolfgang Petritsch and Christophe Solioz, Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft [ Democracy, Security, Peace No 189, ISBN 978-3-8329-3413-2 ], forthcoming 2008, 187 pp.
Written by researchers and practitioners, Regional Cooperation in South East Europe and Beyond is a collection of essays that examine the challenges of regional cooperation in South East Europe and outline prospects for its future development. Among the issues considered in this collection are the increased diversity in the region, the paradox of new divisions and contradictions produced by the latest round of European Union enlargement, the connection between economic development and cooperation in the region, the coexistence of many cooperation programmes and the still unresolved security challenges. It also discusses why these countries should embrace the process of wider regional cooperation by moving beyond regional frameworks that are too narrowly conceived. The region should be seen less as a homogeneous space than a multifaceted network linked to other networks. It is now time to network these networks; proactive and forward-looking regional cooperation should follow less the logic of sovereign states and more the notion of mutually assured connectivity. Both the EU and South East Europe must seize this perspective and achieve regional cooperation as a truly innovative political project.
Regional Cooperation in South East Europe and Beyond illustrates that collaboration through a circle of neighbourhood friends strengthens both the logic of EU membership and its effects. Upgraded and broadened regional cooperation between South East European countries also demonstrates that the region can work together and has a contribution to make to the EU. Regional cooperation not only boosts the region in meeting its common challenges, but builds confidence outside the region in the whole enlargement and cooperation process.
Janez Potocnik, European Commission, Commissioner for Science and Research, Brussels
Fears and suspicions/spoken and unspoken/, economic realities and electoral calculations; requirements of European integration and the change of generations, all these factors shape the dynamics of the regional integration in the Balkans. But if you want to understand why the regional integration is an imperative for the European future of the Balkans, you should read this important, informative and insightful book.
Ivan Krastev, Chair of the Centre for Liberal Strategies, Sofia
This volume assembles stimulating explorations of the regional cooperation in the Balkans; it deepens and broadens our understanding of a complex process characterized by post-war transition, state building and EU integration.
Boris Nemsic, CEO mobilkom austria, Vienna
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