Från Balkan till Bryssel

Sammanfattning: In terms of EU-accession, the seven countries that used to constitute the republic of Yugoslavia have developed very differently. While Slovenia was one of the countries absorbed during the EU:s eastward expansion of 2004 the other states have struggled in their EU-accession, Croatia being the only state to obtain full membership besides Slovenia. The purpose of this study is to shed a light on the complicated mechanisms behind an EU-accession process. By studying seven different cases through the theoretic lens of veto player theory this study aims to highlight the importance of domestic political decision making in relation to an EU-accession process. The study initially applies veto player theory on all seven cases and then proceeds with a deeper analysis of two selected cases: Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The study shows that states with fewer veto players tend to have an easier EU-accession process, although the conjunction cannot be declared linear. The study also shows that different sorts of veto players tend to have a different effect, which paves way for exciting future research. The study ends with a summarizing discussion, in which further recommendations for future research are made.