This paper investigates when and how Islamic political actors support democracy, and in particular, the EU's democratic criteria subsumed under membership conditionality. The research focuses on the main Islamic organizations in two Muslim-majority, EU applicant states, Turkey and Albania. The...

During the 1990s, the Western Balkans have dominated academic attention as a region of violent conflicts and delayed transitions when compared to the smooth and peaceful transformations elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). However, the region's reputation as Europe's ‘trouble-making...

For most of the 1990s the Balkans has widely dominated the Western attention as a soil of war and belated transitions compared to the relatively smooth transition experiences in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). During this period, the EU was engaged in the region through leading a series of...