The impact of Europeanization on the Balkan countries and their potential shift from the periphery toward the center

Preface

China-CEE Institute had announced “Call for Proposal” research programs in December 2018. One of the proposed research projects is “CEE countries in Europe: toward Center or Periphery”. The aim of this project is to analyze the position and tendency of the CEE Countries in Europe. What we are presenting here is the result of this research project, conducted by scholars from Center for Research and Policy Making (Skopje, North Macedonia) and Center for Balkan Studies, Beijing Foreign Studies University (Beijing, China). The research team developed the research under the proposal entitled “The impact of Europeanization on the Balkan countries and their potential shift from the periphery toward the center”.

This project applies the world-system theory and takes the integration and Europeanization as the process moving from “periphery” to “center” for Balkan countries. The research team takes nine Balkan countries as case studies. While Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia have been granted full membership of the EU, the Western Balkans, i.e., Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, are at the different levels of proximity to EU accession. The project also discusses the role and influence of economic means, such as official aid and private investment and trade, and political, cultural and religious means provided by external actors, such as Turkey, Russia, Gulf States, the US and China. In doing so, the research is trying to provide a general overview on the shift of such transformation.

The China-CEE Institute, registered as a non-profit limited company in Budapest, was established by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) in April 2017. The Institute aims to build ties and strengthen partnerships with academic institutions and think tanks in Hungary, Central and Eastern European countries, as well as other parts of Europe. The China-CEE Institute encourages scholars and researchers to carry out joint researches and field studies, organizes seminars and lecture series, holds training programs for students and junior researchers and publishes publications, etc.