Inaug.-disss.--Leipzig. / Vita. "Literatur": [9]-15.

Thèse--Paris. / "Bibliographie": p. [146]-148.

Thèse-Université de Toulouse.

Inaug.-diss.--Leipzig. / Lebenslauf. "Literatur": p. [99]-105; bibliographical foot-notes.

978-954-775-801-8. / In kyrill. Schr., bulg.

Thèse-Universit́e de Paris.

The thesis studies the impact of the EU on security sector reforms (SSR) in the Western Balkans with an aim to investigate recent changes in the security dynamics of the region. The study covers the period from 1991, which marks the break-up of Yugoslavia, to 2013, the year when the first Western Balkan state joined the EU. It investigates changes in the security situation in the Western Balkans on both regional and state levels. While the region as a whole has become much more secure and peaceful, compared to the 1990s, its separate states display varying degrees of stabilisation and development. By comparing the EU’s involvement in SSR in Croatia, Serbia and BiH, which in the studied period achieved a full membership, candidate status and potential candidate status respectively, the thesis aims to determine if these differences can be linked to EU policies. The work argues that between 1991 and 2013 the character of security interdependence between the Western Balkan states changed from negative to positive, and that the EU was one of the key actors behind this change. To explain this transformation, it uses Regional Security Complex Theory (RSCT), that provides a comprehensive framework for analysing regional developments from the security point of view. The dissertation contributes to the study of the EU as a security actor and indicates the possibility of new applications of RSCT by examining the EU’s engagement with security sector reform and the evolution of security dynamics in the Western Balkans as the result of this engagement. It also extends the understanding of the effects and limitations of Europeanisation in states recovering from war and conflict.

This research project explores Romania’s process of detachment from Moscow from 1953 to 1963 within the context of the global Cold War. Through a multi-archival investigation, the dissertation investigates the first full process of peaceful de-satellization within the Eastern bloc by considering the broader framework of the bipolar international climate. In so doing, it provides both a bottom-up, as well as a top-down analysis. This project focuses, in particular, on the tenure of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej (1947-65), Romania’s first Communist leader, as it was under his leadership that the country shifted from complete subservience to the Soviet Union to political and economic autonomy. In 1958, Romania negotiated a full troop withdrawal, remaining the only Warsaw Pact country without Soviet military presence until the fall of the Berlin Wall. And by 1963, it also dared to challenge Moscow’s plans for economic specialization within COMECON, thereby asserting its sovereign right to pursue national interest over the greater socialist good, and thus stymying the Kremlin’s initiative for an integrated bloc economy. This project provides an in-depth investigation into the reasons why Romania was able to boldly confront the Soviet Union without fear of retribution, by tracing the process through which Dej gradually removed Romania’s political straightjacket, and exploring those elements within the international climate which allowed him to negotiate Romania’s detachment.

The growth of a nation-state in the 19th century led to the protection of heritage as a distinct discipline. Initially, the prime objective was physical protection and conservation of archaeological and architectural monuments valued for their aesthetic and historic importance. However, the 20th century practice of imposing nationalist ideas onto communities and cultures which share the same territory, but not religion and/or language, brought into prominence a discipline of heritage management. One of the main characteristics of heritage management is its interpretation in national terms which, when used for nation-building purposes, often becomes the subject of contested grand narratives; i.e. ethnically, religiously and socially divisive tool in the hands of political elites interested in securing and maintaining their powers. Historical changes of political systems and state ideologies, however, witnessed the lasting impact on the interpretation of heritage over la longue durée, almost always with negative outcomes. The Wars of Yugoslav Succession during the 1990s resulted not only in the creation of new nation-states, but also their own new national narratives and languages, often rooted in flagrant revisionism of the interpretation of historical sources and surviving heritage. This thesis examines the evolution of national narratives in five ex- Yugoslav republics and Albania from the time of their individual inception until the present. It employs chronologically juxtaposed nation-building processes in the observed states and points to the differences in interpretation which usually coincided with changes of political systems. It also highlights the contemporary interpretations of the heritage as understood by both local and international researchers and publicists, affected by the surrounding political atmosphere. It explores the destruction, vandalism, and “culturcide” and their condemnations and justifications by the media and biased scholarship. The thesis also points to the negative influence of the external political factors in heritage management through the extensive production of poorly and/or partially researched publications. Finally, it concludes that the (re)interpretation of heritage is a recurring process, which will be employed every time when the balance of power in Europe changes and almost always with detrimental consequences for the local population.

The dissertation investigates the social, economic and religious aspects of Jewish life in the Balkan provinces of the Roman Empire between the 4th century BCE and 8th century CE. This is the first study, which studies the social and religious life of the Jewish communities in the Balkans, as recoded in the epigraphic and archaeological material, and will provide scholars with much needed basis for further research in the field. The primary focus of my research is a historical analysis of the epigraphic and archaeological evidence regarding the Jewish communities in the Roman provinces of Pannonia Inferior, Dalmatia, Moesia, Thracia, Macedonia, Achaea and Crete. The work is arranged in the form a corpus of inscriptions with additional entries on the archaeological and literary evidence. The intention has been to include all Jewish inscriptions and archaeological remains from the Balkans, which are likely to date from before c.700 CE. The analysis concentrates on the language and content of the available inscriptions, the onomastic repertoire employed, the historical context of the Jewish archaeological remains and their relation to the non- Jewish archaeological material from the region. The results of my research are important for understanding the involvement of Jews in the city life and their civic status, the cultural interaction between Jews and their non-Jewish neighbours and may define the local community organisation and background of Jewish settlement in the Balkan provinces of the Roman Empire. In my commentaries I suggest that the social system of the Jewish communities in the Balkans was dependent upon the local public and economic situation in the Roman city but not determined by it.