Europeanization in the Sector of Security and Defence in the Western Balkans

The paper will focus on the EU's security and defense norms and their transfer to candidate Western Balkans states. While Europeanisation is often closely linked to accession process and incentives, Western Balkans pose a specific case, as security related Europeanisation process is also happening under conditions of prolonged candidacy statuses, geopolitical competition in the region and increasing enlargement fatigue. The paper will look into the security and defense europeanisation in the region and its increasing focus on strategic risk management, not just integration driven transformation. The paper will look at EU's Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) and Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and their connection to how the expectations of those are internalised by candidate states. The paper will draw on comparative analysis of cases of Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and look at alignment with EU foreign and security policy positions, security sector reform under EU conditionality as well as hybrid thrat governance which is also shaped by in some cases overlapping EU and NATO frameworks and guidelines. The paper will aim to demonstrate variations across cases, with Montenegro showcasing higher levels of formal alignment with EU norms, connected also to their NATO membership and clearer Euro-Atlantic orientation, and Serbia acting as a contrast that illustrates limits of EU security Europeanisation process, as it is more selective in CSDP cooperation as well as CFSP alignment, with its policy of military neutrality and more diverse strategic and security partnerships, such as those with Russia and to some extent China. This will showcase a variation in nature of security Europeanisation, with domestic political preferences, credibility of EU conditionality and external geopolitical and hybrid warfare factors playing an intersecting role. This research will contribute to the debate on Europeanisation beyond EU borders by exploring security and defence domain in the Western Balkans region, showing that the process of Europeanisation does not always produce a linear process of adaptation, but results also in hybrid outcomes with partial compliance and strategic ambiguity. Comparing SEE and CEE enlargement experiences, we can see that prolonged accession timelines and shifting EU priorities and accession processes can also reshape the outcomes of Europeanisation in some sectors. Finally, the paper will look into EU influence in the Western Balkans and its constrained status in the security and defence field, raising discussion on Europeanisation process.