All in the Same Boat? Regional Interdependence and Cooperation in South East Europe

Abstract

Scholars approaching regionalism from various angles treat interde­pendence as a key factor pushing for collective action. States and substate actors interact with regard to issues that, figuratively speaking, put them ‘in the same boat’. They reap the benefits of cooperation or compete for resources concentrated in a more or less clearly bounded and cohesive spatial perimeter. It is shared geography that binds poli­ties together, in both positive and negative ways, and Balkan politics furnish countless examples of this. This chapter explores the character and intensity of cross-border linkages across South East Europe during the 1990s — the decade when cooperative schemes took off — and their implications for the emergent regional arrangements.