International Conference: Current Security Challenges for the Western Balkan Region Addressed by Means of Joint Responsibility and Cooperation KEYNOTE ADDRESSES 2 Dejan Guzina In an interview that Ulrich Beck, a famous networks between the political establishment German sociologist, gave to Pescanik only a(incorporating both the government of the day few days ago, he nicely summarized what is at and its opposition) and the business elites. Here the heart of the Western Balkans' dilemma: it sufces to say that despite the region's substantial progress in the past ten years, what One of the greatest success stories of the unites the entire region is not so much a strong European Union is in making enemies into and vibrant civil society and institutes of neighbours… This idea has yet to succeed in democratic governance, but a systemic your region. Russian aggression in Ukraine has corruption, sham parliamentarianism, polarized shown that there are still two types of political space and a fusion of interests between nationalism. On the one side, we have a political parties and the so-called business cosmopolitan nationalism that makes one's tycoons. This necessitates two questions: national identity open towards the other. As such, it contributes to the security in Europe. On ➢ Can the current EU's case-by-case approach 92 the other side, there is an ethnic type of nationalism that is focused on territory, and by to integration offer enough incentives that is capable of undermining the very structure of the its nature is aggressive(Pescanik, November Western Balkan's style of crony capitalism? 15 2014). Even though one may disagree with Beck's ➢ And, what if the EU's approach to reconciling characterization of the non-aggressive nature of fundamental individual liberties and communal cosmopolitanism, he is certainly right that all claims cannot work in each and every case in states, particularly in this region, have to make the Western Balkans? decision as to what type of future they want for themselves – the one based on cosmopolitan As to the last question, already in 1970, nationalism or the one based on ethnic Dankwart Rustow wrote that transition to nationalism. democracy might be a futile exercise without the so-called“background condition.” In After almost twenty years of experimenting with Rustow's words,“[I]t[background condition] the Europeanization model in the region, the simply means that the vast majority of citizens hour of Europe(Thessaloniki Summit in June in a democracy to be must have no doubts or 2003) has yet to come for the Western Balkan mental reservations at to which political states. The region is dominated not so much by community they belong to(350).” Thus, the the politically stable liberal democracies but by background condition represents the level of a hybrid form of competitive authoritarianism achieved national unity in any given state (Levitsky and Way 2010). This system relies on beyond which the very boundaries and identities certain elements of democratic governance of the state and political community will not be (parliament, multiparty system, relatively free challenged. A cursorily look at the Western media), while in fact these democratic forms Balkan's map clearly shows that this are only secondary to the informal power background condition is not met in Bosnia,