Non-state Actors’ Role in Foreign Policy: The Case of the EU Enlargement Policy in Western Balkans

Abstract

As non-state actors are gaining status and influence in world politics, scholars have sought to examine the impact of their activities on various domains. Consequently, scholarly attention has focused not only the role of non-state actors in foreign policy but, most importantly, on the foreign policy of non-state actors themselves. This chapter examines the impact of the EU as a non-state actor on the policies and behaviour of applicant countries. After discussing the status of the EU as a non-state actor, the chapter examines EU enlargement as a foreign policy and then explores the impact of this policy in the Western Balkans. In so doing, it analyses the importance of Western Balkan states to the EU’s security, identifies the instruments and frameworks utilised by the EU to integrate regional states, and highlights the centrality of EU conditionality in this process. Following a discussion about recent developments in EU relations with the Western Balkan states, it investigates whether and to what degree EU enlargement policy has influenced those states’ policies and behaviour. To explore the impact of the EU’s enlargement policy on Western Balkan states, the cases of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia are utilised.