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Clientelism and the Abuse of Power in the Western Balkans

ABSTRACT Clientelism has played a key role in consolidation of informal power politics in the Western Balkans. While focusing on Serbia and Kosovo, we argue that such networks and the ruling political and economic elites have become inseparable, having a direct influence on the two countries’ EU integration process. By analysing the Serbia-Kosovo-EU triangle, we address the form and content of the system engineered by the Belgrade and Priština elites and establish its relevance for the EU’s stabilitocratic efforts and policy towards the said region. Our findings largely complement the scholarship claiming that the EU’s transformative power in democratization and Europeanization of the region has fallen victim to Brussels’ geopolitical stability aims, thus failing to induce domestic structural changes in the said region.