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rights, national and regional reconciliation, and regional and international
cooperation.
The West’s approach has by no means been unblemished—
as witnessed by its efforts to delay the divorce between Serbia and
Montenegro and the slow process of determining the final status of
Kosovo—but it now has a much better understanding of the diversity
and complexity of the Balkans. A clear division of labor between
the eu and nato since 2003 has greatly benefited developments in the
region. While the eu has been focused on police reform and internal
security, nato efforts have been aimed at the transformation of
the military via the Partnership for Peace (PfP) program, which
was extended to Serbia at the end of 2006. Despite strong resistance
from conservatives who still insist that Serbia should be the military
leader in the region, the decision to offer Serbia the PfP program has
brought about some significant changes in the nature of the Serbian
military, such as the retirement of old cadres and the beginning of
training under nato’s umbrella.
Undoubtedly, the international community’s solidarity and
active involvement and presence in the region has been essential in
securing democratic consolidation in several of its states, but the
achievement of a peaceful and democratic future for the region as a
whole depends on the further engagement of the West in general and
of the eu in particular.
The international community must reach out to the wider public
in the conflict area and explain its perspective and actions.
Serbia’s imperial policies backed by the Yugoslav Army and Serbia’s
regional puppet groups were defeated in Croatia in 1995, in Bosnia
and Herzegovina in 1995, and in Kosovo in 1999—but that fact
has never been fully explained to the public in Serbia. Of course,
one can hardly expect the Serb elites to broadcast its defeats to the
Serb public. The international community, however, certainly could
have done more to spell out clearly to the public the nature of the