Research project S1/03/03 (Research action S1)
The project ‘European institutional models as instruments of conflict resolution in the divided states of the European periphery’ makes a comparative assessment of supra-national crisis management and crisis resolution in divided states at the peripheries of the EU: Cyprus, Serbia-Montenegro, Moldova-Transdniestria, and Georgia-Abkhazia.
As a result of unsettled ethnic conflicts, these countries are confronted with the secession of part of their territory and the disappearance of common statehood. In all these cases, conflict settlement is related to the prospect of future integration into a European framework, but the form and degree of Europeanisation may vary widely. Cyprus will thus belong to the internal periphery of the European Union and Serbia and Montenegro to its outer periphery, whereas Moldova and Transdniestria belong to the inner periphery of what has been defined by the EU Council of Ministers as the ‘Wider Europe’. Georgia and Abkhazia, however, are not at present included in the ‘Wider Europe’ concept of the EU, and therefore belong to its external periphery.
By Europeanisation we have in mind the introduction of formalised and non-formalised institutional mechanisms and processes established with a view to European integration, participation in European institutions etc, as well as the cultural, legal, institutional and economic impact of European integration on domestic structures.
By European integration we do not only mean the accession to the EU but also the participation to the wider European international organisations OSCE, Council of Europe, NATO’s EAPC/PfP and CIS. We distinguish the role of these institutions as actor organisations that are involved in developing policies in the European periphery and as framework organisations in whose institutions mechanisms favourable to conflict resolution at the European periphery may be embedded. The research will focus on those institutional characteristics of the EU, its member states and other international organisations that are of particular relevance for conflict resolution in divided states: the development of institutional models with different levels of sovereignty, the federalization of foreign policy, and regional integration.
The research intends to analyse which local factors promote or inhibit the implementation of European institutional models. It will be carried out by combining theoretical expertise of the research teams with the perceptions and experience of local actors - diplomats, policy makers, opinion leaders and intellectuals in these divided states. The research will be carried out in four phases.
In the first phase (April-May 2003), we identify the key problems involved in a working paper.
In the second phase (June-October 2003), we will organise focus groups to discuss this working paper. These focus groups are to be held in each of the four countries and are to be organised separately for the two parties involved in the conflict. We will synthesise the results of this process in an intermediate report.
In a third phase (November-December 2003), we will bring together two participants of each of the focus groups at a conference, to be held in Brussels.
In a fourth phase (January-March 2004) we will write the final report and documents.
Europeanisering en conflictoplossing : case-studies uit de Europese periferie : eindrapport
Coppieters, Bruno - Emerson, Michael - Huysseune, Michel ... et al Gent : Academia Press, 2004 (PB6082)
Européanisation et résolution de conflits: études de cas de la périphérie européenne : résumé
Bruxelles : Politique scientifique fédérale, 2004 (SP1353)
[To download]
Europeanisering en conflictoplossing: Case-studies uit de Europese periferie : samenvatting
Brussel : Federaal Wetenschapsbeleid, 2004 (SP1354)
[To download]
Europeanisation and conflict resolution: Case studies from the European periphery : summary
Brussels : Federal Science Policy, 2004 (SP1355)
[To download]
