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The entrenchment of the Balkan protectorates revives a question that ESI has posed in the past: to whom are international missions accountable, given their extraordinary powers? What happens when they make mistakes and violate the rights of citizens in the territories they govern?
Current policy debates in Kosovo which focus almost exclusively on status fail to take into account another change that is already affecting Kosovo society profoundly: the end of the era of mass migration
It is appropriate for the European Commission and for member states to insist on strict compliance with conditionality on EU integration, including concerning cooperation with the ICTY.
ESI is carrying out a series of studies on current debates on enlargement. The series begins with the Netherlands, and examines how Dutch attitudes on Turkey have developed since 1999.
The 11 March 2006 meeting of EU Foreign Ministers with their colleagues from the Western Balkans in Salzburg was an opportunity to reassure the region that its European prospects are not slipping into the distant future. This opportunity was missed.
No ESI report triggered a more vigorous national debate than our recent study of social change in Central Anatolia, Islamic Calvinists. In recent weeks Turkish commentators in all large national papers used this report to take a new look at the relationship between the Turkish state, Islam in Turkey and economic development.
ESI is calling on EU member states not to forget their commitments to the countries of the Balkans, and their vital interest in lasting stability in the region on the eve of Kosovo status negotiations.
Our new report takes a closer look at current social and economic realities in Central Anatolia by exploring the recent economic revolution that has turned a number of former trading towns into manufacturing centres.
This paper analyses the implications of the present Instrument of Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) draft regulation. It proposes that all potential candidates should be given the chance to progress towards EU membership on an equal footing with previous candidates.
ESI analysts continue to meet with foreign ministries in EU member states and with politicians in the region to present the case for a change in the IPA regulation and for an accelerated process of EU member state building in the region.
In addition to our work on EU policy and state building, we are continuing our field research in the Southern Balkans and in Central Anatolia, as well as our capacity building with young think-tanks in the region.
This report is a description of the roots of the passivity of the Bosnian state. Its central premise is simple: to move towards Europe, Bosnia and Herzegovina needs to overcome its authoritarian temptation and embrace a genuinely democratic political process.
Meeting in Istanbul this summer we have launched our latest new project: ESI Turkey. In what will be ESI's largest commitment, we will explore the process of transformation occurring in Turkey.
The paper proposes a number of practical measures for making this Standard a reality. A fundamental precondition, however, is that the international community explicitly rule out any solution for Kosovo based on territorial bargains or the expulsion of minority populations.
This proposal is for a package of measures, designed to address both the unresolved political status of the city and its increasingly desperate economic plight.
ESI argues that those who refuse the principle of incremental and consensual change without offering an alternative that could be implemented are practically supporting the status quo. In politics, nothing is more conservative than to wait for a miracle.
ESI seeks to build bridges between the academic and the Balkan policy communities. Policy makers everywhere are busy people. Many who work in the field in Pristina, Sarajevo, Skopje, Belgrade and in national capitals across the EU have little time and leisure to read books or long articles.
This paper is an attempt to identify practical ways of achieving change. Beginning with existing institutions and the interests which lie behind them, it proposes a practical step forward that Bosnian politicians might actually agree to and implement.
The debate on international power in Bosnia and Herzegovina has been intense throughout the summer. Numerous people and institutions reacted to the article on the Bonn powers which appeared in the Journal of Democracy in July 2003.
