Small States of the Balkans: after Yugoslavia and its "third Way"

The bloody collapse of Yugoslavia has comprehensively marked its small successor states politically, economically, socially, culturally and psychologically. The legacy of the 1991-2001 wars continues to affect their bilateral and multilateral relations and security, despite the inclusion into NATO of all Adriatic coastal states, from Slovenia to Montenegro, and the establishment of a sort of US led ‘cordon sanitaire’ around inland areas of the former socialist federation. Meanwhile, the memory of the non-aligned policy has substantially vanished, despite the global admiration for the role that Yugoslavia played between 1950s and 1990s. Rather, current expectations are mainly related to EU membership and its financial support. Therefore, a ‘third way’ is not contemplated by local agendas. Nevertheless, many political actors in the region consider alternative affiliations with rivalling great powers. As a result, the picture is more fluid than the mass media and local politicians would have us believe. The coeditors of the presnet book have identified three main dilemmas of small state politics: (1) the dilemma between promoting national values and characteristics in order to safeguard national policy-making at home and promoting cosmopolitan values internationally to secure a strong international society,curbing and delegitimising the irredentist pursuit of national interests by the great powers; (2) the dilemma between securing small community democratisation with strong internal coherence and risking the ‘group-think’ that would follow from too tightly-knit political communities and elites; and (3) the dilemma between maximising national autonomy and seeking international influence, which often means accepting restrictions to that autonomy as a consequence of international engagement. This chapter explores the meaning and importance of each of these dilemmas for the small Yugoslav successor states.