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Björkdahl, Annika (2005) ”Norm-maker and Norm-taker: Exploring
the normative influence of the EU in Macedonia”, in European
Foreign Affairs Review, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 257-278,

The European Union is regarded as possessing a ‘silent disciplining power on the “near abroad”’.1 Bordering the EU, the Western Balkans have been an important testing ground for developing the external role of the EU. These states emerging from the breakup of the former Yugoslavia have searched for new norms to replace the ones discredited by violent conflict and communism. Since their independence they have been exposed to the normative influence of the international community and the EU. The rhetoric of ‘Europeanization’ underlines much of the EU’s activities in the region, and the EU has confirmed its goal to integrate these states into the economic and political mainstream of Europe. This commitment by the EU, in combination with Slovenia’s entrance into the Union in May 2004 and the recognition of Croatian candidate status in June 2004, have encouraged the membership aspirations of the rest of the Western Balkans. This places the EU in a strong position to use its normative power to influence the states in the Western Balkans and to a varying degree they are likely to be receptive to EU norm advocacy. The ambition of this article is to adopt a social constructivist perspective to develop the idea of the European Union as a ‘norm-maker’ and explore the normative influence of the EU in its neighborhood.

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