The EU as a normative power: attempts of exporting regional co-operation to the Western Balkans

Abstract: This study departs from the constructivist approach to research the Manners` concept of the European Union as a "normative power" or norm exporter. The focus is diffusion of the regional co-operation model that EU has been promoting as a foreign policy goal. Study presents motives and policies behind that objective. Conditionality of regional co-operation is also the distinctive feature of the EU- Western Balkans relations. I analyze how the conditionality developed through policy instruments such as the Regional Approach, Stability Pact and Stabilization and Association Process to understand what type of norm diffusion took place. Furthermore, regional conditions are investigated to see the whether EU model of regional rapprochement has found a fertile ground in the Western Balkans. Finally, I will suggest that there is a limited prospect for the export of the regional co-operation model to the Balkans because of impeding regional conditions.