Özet:

The international status quo had been changed rapidly after the breakdown of the communist regimes throughout Central and Eastern Europe at the end of 1989. The transition from communism to post-communist period had been more severe in the Balkans than other communist states of East Central Europe. States have been experiencing the building democracy, following the liberal economic principles and adapting to the universal values by international organizations, such as the European Union (EU). Although two Balkan States are in the similar regional status, shared communism and war experience, they have followed the quite different European trajectories. This article will briefly discuss the trend of decentralization of Yugoslavia in terms of reopening national question could be primarily motivated by the role of historical legacy, constitutional factors, and the role of intellectual elites and political actors. After giving some information about the dissolution process of the Yugoslavia, it will introduce an argument about the role of the national identity politics on the Europeanization processes of the states. The purpose of this paper is to understand the Europeanization process of Croatia and Serbia after the dissolution from the Yugoslavia. This research paper will develop the identity convergence and identity divergence mechanisms in order to explain successful or stalled Europeanization process of countries. In this research paper, historical comparative research technique based on methodological pluralism logic of qualitative research method will be used. While national identity convergence mechanism provides Croatia’s rapid accordance with EU requirements, national identity divergence mechanism had a negative impact on Serbia’s EU candidacy process. It is important to examine the history and roots of the dissolution of the Yugoslavia in order to explain how states national identity effect the process of Europenization, This article argues the Europeanization process of Serbia and Croatia states on the basis of the neo-functionalist and inter-governmentalist approach in order to understand the path on the EU. This paper analyses both the evolution of these two main theories in the post-war era and their impact on the development of the European project. These cases offer evidence that how these two states have perceived Europe, what it meant domestically, and how it was imagined profoundly shaped the trajectory of Europeanization. They will explain the question why similar international pressures on states produce different political outcomes on the states. National identity concept has to be taken seriously in order to understand what makes Europenization process difficult to achieve for states.

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