Dr.

Paul Stubbs (pstubbs@eizg.hr) The Institute of Economics, Zagreb

TOWARDS OPEN REGIONALISM IN SOUTH EAST EUROPE ZAGREB, 13 SEPTEMBER 2012

New regionalism
Not only sets of relations between sovereign

nation states Regions not xed entities but shifting, contested and unnished social and political constructs Regionalism as a set of multi-actor, multi- level, multi-scalar processes consisting of complex and variable geometries of interlocking networks Regions as imaginaries but not arbitrary power matters

Dominant Discourses of South East Europe

Katunari, 2012 1. Balkanism orientalist discourse of the permanent peripheral other (ancient ethnic hatreds) 2. Realpolitik regional political co-operation as a prelude to and preparation for Euro- Atlantic integration 3. Realekonomie expanding economic space for neo-liberal trade relations

The paradoxes of the (post- imperial /neo-colonial) semi-periphery

Blagojevi (2009): trying to catch-up with the core countered by voices urging resistance to integration into the core: Externally-driven peace- and state-building alongside mini-states, contested sovereignties and parallel power networks Energy, Trade and Security (Justice and Home Aairs) agreements in the interests of the Great Powers Sub-optimal regional institutions Stability Pact -> Regional Co-operation Council (ownership paradox) Projectisation of civil society and capacity building

Variable geometries and flexible schemes

Expansion of cross-border co-operation

creates innovative modes of governance New social movements are challenging commodication and re-claiming public space Independent artistic and cultural collaborations are re-conguring regional identications Fluid and exible programmes create moments of symbolic exchange based on hybrid and multiple lived experiences

Hegemonic v utopian regionalism

Exclusion vs solidarity Securitisation vs mobility Neo-liberal vs socially responsible capitalism Managing vs enabling citizens Privatising vs expanding public sphere(s)

Tensions between political, technocratic and civil claims and approaches to governance ... are recongured in innovative ways at various scales

Thank-you for your attention Hvala na panju