The End of State-Building and a Return to “Democracy”: The Legacy of the Arab Spring for Studying the Successor States of the Former Yugoslavia
The End of State-Building and a Return to “Democracy”: The Legacy of the Arab Spring for Studying the Successor States of the Former Yugoslavia

Summary/Abstract: Abstract. Events in North Africa and the Middle East have led to an unexpected renaissance of interest in democracy and democratization. The potential implications of this for the state- building approach that has, as methodology and framing concept, dominated discussions of international intervention for at least the past decade are significant. Whilst it is acknowledged here that state-building and democratization approaches share a similar agency-oriented focus and emphasise elite-level institutions, it is argued that if conceptualized broadly, a renewed democracy focus may engender a normative shift towards a greater emphasis being placed on socio-economic development and structural realities as dependent variables. Although this is unlikely to fundamentally alter positivist methodological approaches to the assessment of external impact on domestic change in Bosnia or Kosovo, it may at least introduce additional variables for evaluating the critical interaction between institutions and actors. From a devel- opmental conceptualisation of democracy assistance, various socio-economic indicators can be introduced into discussions of the impact of external intervention and donor assistance.

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