Between Lofty Rhetoric and Lingering Conflicts: Political Cooperation

Abstract

Summits and high-profile diplomatic conferences are, beyond doubt, the most visible part of any regional endeavour around the globe. Even if such major get-togethers do not give birth to momentous political decisions, national leaders and top officials never miss a chance to air a message to the outside world and their domestic publics — complete with the obligatory family photo. Events of that sort have marked the ebbs and flows of regionalism in South East Europe since the mid-1990s. To grasp its dynamics, one must consider not just sectoral collaboration, discussed at length in Chapters 4 and 5, but also the Balkan brand of political summitry. Originating in the immediate aftermath of the Dayton peace accords, the South East European Cooperation Process (SEECP) has emerged as a central arena of intra-regional multilateral exchanges, alongside a plethora of ad hoc consultation fora. It is now a common argument that such institutions foster ‘regional ownership’ in the multiple schemes initiated from outside the Balkans, not least through their contribution to the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC). They have furthermore improved relations among states, especially in comparison to the early 1990s when fragmentation and rival alignments were the norm. At the same time, institutions such as SEECP, for all their rhetoric in favour of pragmatic cooperation, have opted for open-ended dialogue rather than formalization and engagement in ambitious integration schemes.