Europeanisation and security sector reform : the case of the Republic of Macedonia

"This dissertation defines the scope of Macedonia-EU relationships, and examines the EU's role in Macedonia: from democracy promotion to security to candidate state building. The dissertation reviews these processes using the concept of Europeanisation within the concrete case study of Macedonia. The EU has played a significant role in resolution of the political turmoil in Macedonia and has undertaken various strategies to promote change in the countries of the Western Balkans. Its most effective tool has been conditionality. In the case of Macedonia, specific non-acquis related conditionalities were put in place. The focus in this context here is how the conditionality has changed with the emergence of prospect for EU membership? This thesis examines conditionality at the implementation level related with the Europeanisation processes, focusing on securitisation or stabilisation, democratisation and association. The case studies include Stabilisation and Association Process, Ohrid Framework Agreement, Security sector reform including police reform and EU security missions in the country. The conclusion of the thesis is that EU conditionality combined with the socialisation tools and support programmes, has been instrumental factor that has shaped the EU influence in the country and turned Macedonia into the recipient of the Europeanisation effects. It makes virtually impossible to disentangle the impact of the Europeanisation process from the fundamental processes of democratisation that dominated Macedonia's political landscape. The Ohrid reform strategy tackled the two most important concerns: stabilisation, and democratisation, bringing to completion the process that can be labelled as the process of 'candidate state building', another name of Europeanisation in Macedonia. The thesis shows that the Europeanisation concept was important element in understanding the changes seen in Macedonia and that its influence is not conditional on actual membership." Key words: EU, Macedonia, Europeanisation, conditionality, candidate state building, security sector reform.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo