Conclusion

Abstract

The research underpinning this study set out to undertake empirical and comparative analysis of a particular policy area — environmental protection and regulation — in order to interrogate the impact of Europeanization on BiH and Serbia. The aim was to identify the distribution of power amongst the various domestic and exogenous governance actors, and to decipher the drivers of change and the various veto players. The focus throughout has been on understanding how power is exercised formally and informally, why change occurs and why it does not, and which interventions are critical in instigating a shift towards new modes of governance. The starting premise, or hypothesis, was that post-conflict, post-authoritarian successor states of the former Yugoslavia represent a difficult test case for liberal political and economic reform, and for the transposition of Western models of multi-level governance. These states also pose a profound challenge to the strategies and instruments used by the EU as part of its Eastern enlargement. At the time of conducting the research, the progress of neither country was directly dependent upon progress towards environmental governance reform. Subsequently, Serbia has become a candidate state and is therefore now under direct pressure to ensure compliance with all chapters of the acquis. Bosnia’s progress towards full candidacy remains stalled and the failure to achieve substantive reform in the realm of, for instance, environmental governance is indicative of the fundamental obstacles the country faces in its engagement with the EU, as well as in dealing with domestic political and economic realities.