The election of Donald J. Trump as President of the U.S. and the UK’s decision to exit the EU has thrown the Atlantic world into crisis. The consequences of an Anglo-American retreat from constructive international engagement will be felt globally, but perhaps nowhere more so than the Western Balkans. Politically and historically wedged between the competing geopolitical, economic, and cultural influences of the U.S., Western Europe, Russia, and Turkey, the countries of the former Yugoslavia are particularly susceptible to international flux. These panels are convened at a time of urgency in international and regional affairs. But we do so with an eye not merely on the potential crises but also the too often under-reported success stories: Macedonia’s civil society-led government change, Montenegro’s accession to NATO, the contested but nevertheless important legacies of war crimes prosecution and transitional justice, the progress on LGBT and minority rights legislation, and the still ongoing process of Euro-Atlantic integration, newly energized within the context of the so-called Berlin Process.
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