Democracy without Citizens: Inadequate Consolidation in Two Decades of the Western Balkans Democracy

Abstract

Potential candidate countries of the Western Balkans have to be(come) stable democracies in order to be allowed to join the European Union (EU). In reaching this goal they are, besides economic and institutional challenges, being contingent upon not only by the legacies of recent large scale inter-ethnic conflicts, but also by the socio-cultural characteristics of their citizens. The empirical data presented in this paper reveal that citizens of the Western Balkans countries generally do not trust in political institutions, demonstrate almost apathy for social and political actions and believe they themselves are not able to influence the political process. This all results in low and inadequate political participation in all surveyed countries, and along with their undeveloped political culture, it indicates inadequate democracy promotion in the EU’s accession policy in the entire region. This paper therefore argues that the EU should consider changing the pre-accession democratisation approach, since mere export of its regulatory framework so far has not contributed to the democratic consolidation and development of democratic political culture in the future Member States from the Western Balkans.