Arolda Elbasani – författare

International-Led Statebuilding and Local Resistance contributes theoretical and empirical insights to the existing knowledge on the scope, challenges and results of post-conflict international state- and institution-building project focusing on post-war Kosovo. Post-war Kosovo is one of the high-profile cases of international intervention, hosting a series of international missions besides a massive inflow of international aid, technical assistance and foreign experts. Theoretically, the book goes beyond the standard narrative of international top-down institution building by exploring how international and local factors interact, bringing in the mediating role of local resistance and highlighting the hybridity of institutional change. Empirically, the book tests those alternative explanations in key areas of institutional reform – municipal governance, public administration, normalization of relations with Serbia, high education, creation of armed forces, the security sector and the hold of Salafi ideologies. The findings speak to timely and pertinent issues regarding the limits of international promotion of effective institutions; the mediating role of local agents; and the hybrid forms of institution-building taking shape in post-conflict Kosovo and similar post-war contexts more broadly. Addressing challenges of state-building at the intersection of international interventions, local strategies of resistance, and the hybridity of institution-building experience with institutional reforms in Kosovo and in post-conflict contexts more broadly, International-Led Statebuilding and Local Resistance will be of great interest to scholars of international relations, state building and post-conflict societies. The chapters were originally published as a special issue of Southeast European and Black Sea Studies.

The book investigates the scope and limitations of the transformative power of EU enlargement in the Western Balkans.The extension of EU enlargement policy to the region has generated high expectations that enlargement will regulate democratic institution-building and foster reform, much as it did in Central and Eastern Europe. However, there is very little research on whether and how unfavourable domestic conditions might mitigate the transformative power of the EU. This volume investigates the role of domestic factors, identifying ‘stateness’ as the missing link between the assumed transformative power of the EU and the actual capacity to adopt EU rules across the region. Including chapters on Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo, and Bosnia-Herzegovina, leading scholars in the field offer up-to-date comparative analysis of key areas of institutional and policy reform; including state bureaucracy, rule of law, electoral management, environmental governance, cooperation with the International Court of Justice, economic liberalization and foreign policy.Looking to the future and the implications for policy change, European Integration and Transformation in the Western Balkans provides a new theoretical and empirical focus on this little understood area. The book will be of interest to scholars and students of EU politics, comparative democratisation, post-communist transitions and Balkan area studies.

International-Led Statebuilding and Local Resistance contributes theoretical and empirical insights to the existing knowledge on the scope, challenges and results of post-conflict international state- and institution-building project focusing on post-war Kosovo. Post-war Kosovo is one of the high-profile cases of international intervention, hosting a series of international missions besides a massive inflow of international aid, technical assistance and foreign experts. Theoretically, the book goes beyond the standard narrative of international top-down institution building by exploring how international and local factors interact, bringing in the mediating role of local resistance and highlighting the hybridity of institutional change. Empirically, the book tests those alternative explanations in key areas of institutional reform – municipal governance, public administration, normalization of relations with Serbia, high education, creation of armed forces, the security sector and the hold of Salafi ideologies. The findings speak to timely and pertinent issues regarding the limits of international promotion of effective institutions; the mediating role of local agents; and the hybrid forms of institution-building taking shape in post-conflict Kosovo and similar post-war contexts more broadly. Addressing challenges of state-building at the intersection of international interventions, local strategies of resistance, and the hybridity of institution-building experience with institutional reforms in Kosovo and in post-conflict contexts more broadly, International-Led Statebuilding and Local Resistance will be of great interest to scholars of international relations, state building and post-conflict societies. The chapters were originally published as a special issue of Southeast European and Black Sea Studies.

This book shifts analytical focus from macro-politicization and securitization of Islam to Muslims' choices, practices and public expressions of faith. An empirically rich analysis, the book provides rich cross-country evidence on the emergence of autonomous faith communities as well as the evolution of Islam in the broader European context.