Serbian Political Heritage and Its Influence on the Capacity Building in Environmental Policy

Abstract

This paper analyzes the construction and capacity building of environmental policy in post-communist Serbia. It will be argued that Serbian political heritage and limited democratic experience lead to weak political-economic progress, lack of administrative, ecological knowledge and weak civil society. The first part covers Serbian historical and political heritage, breakdown of the Yugoslav state and civil war. It will also be covered the process of Europeanization as the influential tool where different mechanisms to the EU influence the democratization outcomes of the new formed states. In the second part, Serbian environmental capacity will be analyzed and it will be suggested that environmental problems require economic, political and social responses from different government institutions and that Serbia experienced considerable political instability. Closely will be covered political, economic and social conditions that bought to these unfavorable circumstances.