<p>Since the beginning of the 1990s important changes took place, such as the collapse of Communism and the dissolution of Yugoslavia. Consequently, the European Union (EU) has faced a new agenda in SouthEastern Europe. The EU policies towards this region were not very well coordinated in the first half of the 1990s. From the second half of the 1990s onwards, the EU has become more focused in its policies towards South Eastern Europe. Since 1999, the Stabilisation and Association Process is the new institutional framework of the EU towards this region. The main purpose of the Stabilisation and Association Process is to promote peace, prosperity and stability in this region. </p><p>This study aims to explore the EU relations with South Eastern Europe with a single case study of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the implementation of the Stabilisation and Association Process. The main research questions are: What are the main aims and dynamics of the EU’s relations with South Eastern Europe? What are the main problems concerning the implementation of the Stabilisation and Association Process in the case of Bosnia? How do the norms, values and culture of Bosnia affect the implementation of the Stabilisation and Association Process? </p><p>The focus of this study is on democratization as an open- ended process. Thus, it is relevant to apply democratization theories, with a focus on the Transition Approach as a theoretical framework. Democratization theories aim to explain how authoritarian regimes change into liberal democratic ones. The transition approach makes a clear distinction between democratic transition and democratic consolidation phases, and identifies the necessary conditions for the success of each phase. New Institutionalism is another theoretical orientation that will be applied to this study. New Institutionalism is used in this study to discuss the concepts of institutional change and democratic governance, and to further study both the formal and informal institutions in Bosnia and how they limit the implementation of the Stabilisation and Association Process. </p><p>This study comes up with the conclusion that South Eastern Europe remains one of the priority regions for the EU. The dynamics of EU-South Eastern Europe relations is based on a number of different factors, such as political and economic considerations, concerns about peace, prosperity, and stability at the doorstep of the EU. The implementation of EU policies in this region is related to the debate on the future of the EU as well. The conclusions about Bosnia and Herzegovina point out that the country has moved forward a considerable amount after the 1992-95 Bosnian War. Democracy is beginning to emerge in the country. However, the implementation of the Stabilisation and Association Process is constrained by the complex formal institutional structure as laid out in the Dayton Peace Agreement. Moreover, the informal institutions in Bosnia limit the implementation. For instance, the path-dependent authoritarian legacy of former Yugoslavia, exclusive ethnic nationalism, and distrust among the major ethnic groups in Bosnia are obstacles in front of the effective implementation of the Stabilisation and Association Process. The level of international community involvement in the country is still very intensive. Bosnia has not become a self-sustainable democratic state yet. Strengthening the civil society in Bosnia and Herzegovina and promoting an inclusive civic identity that will lead to the enhancement of democratic values in the country can be recommended as solutions for the current problems of the country.</p>

Since the beginning of the 1990s important changes took place, such as the collapse of Communism and the dissolution of Yugoslavia. Consequently, the European Union (EU) has faced a new agenda in SouthEastern Europe. The EU policies towards this region were not very well coordinated in the first half of the 1990s. From the second half of the 1990s onwards, the EU has become more focused in its policies towards South Eastern Europe. Since 1999, the Stabilisation and Association Process is the new institutional framework of the EU towards this region. The main purpose of the Stabilisation and Association Process is to promote peace, prosperity and stability in this region. This study aims to explore the EU relations with South Eastern Europe with a single case study of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the implementation of the Stabilisation and Association Process. The main research questions are: What are the main aims and dynamics of the EU’s relations with South Eastern Europe? What are the main problems concerning the implementation of the Stabilisation and Association Process in the case of Bosnia? How do the norms, values and culture of Bosnia affect the implementation of the Stabilisation and Association Process? The focus of this study is on democratization as an open- ended process. Thus, it is relevant to apply democratization theories, with a focus on the Transition Approach as a theoretical framework. Democratization theories aim to explain how authoritarian regimes change into liberal democratic ones. The transition approach makes a clear distinction between democratic transition and democratic consolidation phases, and identifies the necessary conditions for the success of each phase. New Institutionalism is another theoretical orientation that will be applied to this study. New Institutionalism is used in this study to discuss the concepts of institutional change and democratic governance, and to further study both the formal and informal institutions in Bosnia and how they limit the implementation of the Stabilisation and Association Process. This study comes up with the conclusion that South Eastern Europe remains one of the priority regions for the EU. The dynamics of EU-South Eastern Europe relations is based on a number of different factors, such as political and economic considerations, concerns about peace, prosperity, and stability at the doorstep of the EU. The implementation of EU policies in this region is related to the debate on the future of the EU as well. The conclusions about Bosnia and Herzegovina point out that the country has moved forward a considerable amount after the 1992-95 Bosnian War. Democracy is beginning to emerge in the country. However, the implementation of the Stabilisation and Association Process is constrained by the complex formal institutional structure as laid out in the Dayton Peace Agreement. Moreover, the informal institutions in Bosnia limit the implementation. For instance, the path-dependent authoritarian legacy of former Yugoslavia, exclusive ethnic nationalism, and distrust among the major ethnic groups in Bosnia are obstacles in front of the effective implementation of the Stabilisation and Association Process. The level of international community involvement in the country is still very intensive. Bosnia has not become a self-sustainable democratic state yet. Strengthening the civil society in Bosnia and Herzegovina and promoting an inclusive civic identity that will lead to the enhancement of democratic values in the country can be recommended as solutions for the current problems of the country.

More than twenty years after the independence declaration, Republic of Croatia is facing the second biggest step in its history- entry to the European Union. European Union, the world's trade leader, has recognized Croatia as a reliable partner in the future affairs. Croatia shall become a 28th member of the integration on July 1st, 2013. Croatia has experienced many obstacles on the path to the European Union, trying to align its system with the EU's comprehensive legislation. The aim of this thesis is therefore to provide an extensive analysis of the Croatian path to the European Union and to apply the solutions on the further development not only of Croatia but also the remaining candidate countries of the European Union.

This dissertation thesis is focused on the analysis of changing relations between the Western Balkan countries (WB) and the European Union (EU) against background of actual transformation processes in these countries. The Western Balkans represents a group of countries which were not part of so-called Eastern Enlargement of the EU, but are also slowly heading towards the EU. The EU distinguishes three groups of countries within the WB: Croatia has become an acceding country; then here is a group of candidate countries (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Montenegro, Serbia), and the last group is formed by so-called potential candidate countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo). All of these above mentioned countries are part of the Stabilisation and Association Process (SAP) which nowadays represents the core of the Enlargement Policy of the EU and stands for the main research topic of this thesis. The thesis also comprehends the history of the enlargement process of the EU and the basic theoretical concepts of the (EU) enlargement. The "transformation" chapter includes a theoretical grounding too. Three hypotheses were verified (mainly) by results of transformation, evaluation of Copenhagen criteria by the European Commission, and by the statistical methods (Principal Components Analysis and Cluster Analysis) based on a number of economic and demographic indicators.