Shining a Light on the Western Balkans

Executive Summary

The Western Balkans region, encompassing Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Serbia, Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Albania, and Croatia, has been plagued by conflict and instability since the civil wars of the 1990s. Today, the Western Balkans have reemerged as a particularly unstable region, marked by internal vulnerabilities that have made the countries of this region particularly susceptible to external malign influence by state and non-state actors. The U.S. and its European partners remain committed to a peaceful Europe—one that is grounded in democratic values and upholds Western transatlantic institutions, including the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Yet the U.S. and its European partners have largely turned their attention away from this region during the past decade in part as a result of “Balkan fatigue.” Today, fresh concerns over a resurgent Russia, the spread of terrorist groups (particularly the Islamic State), and transnational organized crime, have caused the United States and Europe to shine a light back on the Western Balkans.