Decentralization through the Lens of the Legacy of Power and Ethnic Conflicts: Western Balkan Case
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https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7497545Keywords:
Decentralization, Western Balkan countries, Post-Communist Era, European UnionAbstract
Decentralization constitutes one of the main pillars of democracy. Is a very important element of the Public Administration Reform as a whole and have a high importance in the entire process. The countries of the Western Balkans have started this process since the fall of communism, but it still remains a current challenge. It is one of the criteria still not fully met in the context of their European Union membership. Decentralization theorists refer to various models of it, known as territorial or ethnic decentralization. In societies with conflicting ethnic heritage often the model encountered is ethnic decentralization, while in those without ethnic conflicts the territorial one. This paper presents the main decentralization reforms in three countries of the Western Balkans after the fall of communism and their current stage after more than 30 years, focusing on highlighting the impact of the legacy of power and ethnic conflicts in the current stage of decentralization, seen through the lens of progress in the framework of European Union membership. In the analyze is taken Albania, a country that inherited a highly centralized power from the communist period versus Kosovo and Bosnia & Herzegovina, two countries that inherited a relatively de (centralized) power in the communist period but with a deep inheritance of ethnic conflicts.
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