Abstract

What is the meaning of the Balkans in the early 21^st century? Former Yugoslav countries seek a self-flattering alliance with ‘the West’ via EU membership, while the Union’s citizens increasingly declare to be ‘Eurosceptic’. At the same time, economic turmoil in countries like Greece confronts massive incoming waves of refugees, for whom Europe’s south-eastern borders are the nearest shelter. In this time of crisis, the Balkans return on the agenda as a parable of Europe’s haunting questions about its future.

EU, Europe Unfinished brings together established and emerging media and cultural scholars to explore colliding visions of space and identity within a declining continent. Whereas Europe imagines the Balkans to be the source of its nearest trouble, the region envisions Europe as a refuge from ongoing post-socialist transition. The book adopts a variety of critical perspectives – from media and policy analysis to anthropology, art history and autobiography – to investigate where Europe is headed with the Balkans in its skein, 25 years after the fall of the Iron Curtain.
[…] a volume concerned with questions related to the Balkans and EU/Europe, about change or even lack of change, about self and difference, that merits being read with patience and using the pen, not only to understand the opinions of the authors, but also to reflect on some questions that the different texts could reveal in our mind, or some answers to our own questions.
Tired of endless discussions of "transition" and "Europeanisation" that never tell you what these terms mean? Consider this: these are words about identity, and identity is fraught with conflict, contradiction and confusion over how people perceive themselves and others. These dilemmas are at the heart of political and social disputes involving Europe and the Balkans, and this collection offers a fascinating and challenging ride through them.
Eric Gordy, Senior Lecturer in Southeast European Politics, UCL
Zlatan Krajina is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb, Croatia.

Nebojša Blanuša is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb, Croatia
EU, Europe Unfinished is an important twist to the conversation on the Europe-Balkan relationship, exploring what it means for “Europe to find a home” in the Balkans. This rich, multi-disciplinary volume provides thought-provoking analyses of how the EU’s eastward expansion is remaking—and being remade by—the societies of the Balkans.
Madigan Andrea Fichter, Assistant Professor, Holy Family University, Philadelphia