Suchergebnisse

Europeanizing environmental governance -- The curious case of Bosnia-Herzegovina -- Environmental impact assessment (EIA) processes in BiH -- From pariah to partner? : the case of Serbia -- Environmental impact assessment (EIA) processes in Serbia

Through the intervention of the European Union, the lives of people living in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Kosovo have been transformed beyond recognition. From the perspective of the Western Balkans today, the EU looks and acts like a development agency with a spectacularly broad brief and very deep pockets. Yet until the end of the 20th century, external relations and foreign policy were minor aspects of EU activity

This article assesses whether different types of exposure to European Union (EU) modes of socializationare associated with differences in attitudes towards corruption by using Serbia as case study. Drawing on a survey of Serbian municipal healthcare officials, the article complements existing research on the impact of EU conditionality on attitudes at the national level, whilst also contributing tounderstanding of the impact of domestic variables on Europeanization. Indeed, the article's contribution to the wider literature is to interrogatethe premise that in order to deliver substantive reform, attitudes and practices need changing via exposure to EU tutelage and processes. Our datasuggest that the typeof interaction that officials have with the EU and its processes matters.Whilst thoseinvolved in EU harmonisation activities were significantly more critical of clienelist behaviours, there is no significant association between attitudes and doing EU-related daily work or attending EU trainings.

International donors got involved in the Western Balkans during the last two decades, mainly through civil society organisations (CSOs), with the initial aim of providing emergency relief, and then to promote democracy and broadly support the Europeanization agenda. The intention has also been to contribute to the spread of western values and norms, as well as advance notions of 'good governance' and state reform. However, most local CSOs in receipt of such assistance have not developed high capacities and remain dependent on donor funding. They are also vulnerable to political pressures and have become detached from their local constituencies. Through a survey of donors that have operated across the region, this article seeks to examine why the long-term provision of aid and attempts to promote democracy via civil society have seemingly not delivered a sufficient dividend. What is examined here is whether donor conceptualization of 'civil society development' is the critical variable determining success. If we acknowledge that how donors view civil society and its contribution to democracy and state building is the basis from which aid is provided, projects are supported, and objectives set and measured, then better understanding the donors' perspective is an important basis for trying to understand limited success. This, combined with poor co-ordination and collaboration amongst donors and between them and local stakeholders, arguably compounds the problem. The article concludes that although it has long been recognised that donor strategies are contentious and determine the impact of assistance, the economic crisis is exerting a significant impact in terms of priorities, exit strategies and co-ordination, the outcome of which is by no means certain.

With this paper I seek to identify the conditions under which a shift occurs from hierarchical decision making towards new modes of environmental governance in a case of weak statehood (Bosnia-Herzegovina), where an external agency (the EU) exerts significant influence alongside foreign consultants and international financial institutions (the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development—EBRD). The Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) undertaken as part of the development of the trans-European road network across the country are used here as case studies for examining emerging patterns of environmental governance in a state under the shadow of EU conditionality. The data suggest that whilst over a period of time the adoption of new EU-compliant formal procedures and frameworks (eg, EIA laws) does seem to be generating new modes of governance interaction and citizen involvement, the impact is contingent upon the critical didactic role played by (in this case) the EBRD in making the formal procedures effective and in building knowledge capacity within the state administration. Thus, a simple correlation between EU conditionality and substantive political change cannot be assumed, particularly where state agencies possess limited policy knowledge and nonstate actors (environmental NGOs) lack mobilisation capacity.