Faris Kočan

University of Ljubljana · Chair of International Relations

Since the Second World War, and especially since the 1980s, the world has undergone great changes. Never in the history of mankind have countries been so economically open, trade-connected, and interdependent. With few exceptions, such as North Korea, the basics of the capitalist mode of production have taken hold throughout the world, including th...

This paper proposes an analytical framework for the study of post-conflict anxieties. The literature has so far been elaborate, both in terms of the analysis of the structural frame underpinning a post-conflict society (political, socioeconomic, spatial, and historical factors) and the experiential frame that determines the ethnic distance in such...

In this article, we analyze how the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA), which signalizes the overall (positive) progress and development of the potential candidate country of the post-Yugoslav space, is not straightforwardly translated as a benchmark for progress and development by the political elite. Drawing on securitization theory in...

The focus of this article is on the rise of populism and Euroscepticism in the context of the crisis of liberal internationalism and of the EU in particular. The article considers the view that the weak integration of Slovenian–EU politics makes the country vulnerable to this trend. Modern-nationalist, postmodern-cosmopolitan and faux-modern-partia...

Twenty-six years after the Dayton Peace Agreement, Bosnia and Herzegovina's constitution has remained largely intact, despite a well-established consensus on the necessity of reforming the post-Dayton system. This article looks at the Prud and Butmir Processes, two of the last unsuccessful attempts at comprehensive constitutional reform, with a foc...

The main aim of this paper is to contribute to the literature on ontological security by empirically investigating how the European Union (EU), which is perceived as one of the most important actors that provides means and/ or grounds for overcoming antagonisms through transformation of the ‘Self-Other’ dialectics, fails to become an agent of peace...

This chapter addresses the process of the European Union's enlargement towards the Western Balkan states. It seeks to add to the theorisation of solidarity in international relations (IR) by applying the concept of solidarity to empirical analysis of the EU–WB relationship. The findings show that solidarity as a special relationship has initially b...

The aim of this article is to re-examine the concept of ?EU normative power? in the revised EU approach to enlargement policy announced in 2020. Drawing on conceptualisation of power in Foreign Policy Analysis the article applies the reading of the EU?s soft and hard power - both as capability and as influence - to EU normative power. The empirical...

In this article, we argue that while examining the Western Balkans' integration process during the Covid-19 crisis we must take into consideration not only the EU's influence but that of other powerful external actors as well. Based on the external incentives model, Russia, China and Turkey are thus analysed as competing external actors to the EU's...

In this paper, we test a widely accepted assumption in literature, namely, that due to its universal(istic) and humanistic character aiming to transcend ethnic boundaries, art is an effective tool for overcoming inter-ethnic divisions, and further, that people consider art effective to this specific purpose. To test this assumption, we ran a socio-...

In this article, we argue that while examining the Western Balkans' integration process during the Covid-19 crisis we must take into consideration not only the EU's influence but that of other powerful external actors as well. Based on the external incentives model, Russia, China and Turkey are thus analysed as competing external actors to the EU's...

Contrary to the common understanding that collective memory functions as a driver for fostering domestic peace, stability, a common national identity, and serves as a cornerstone for the realisation of specific national goals, our aim is to show how collective memory is understood as a constitutive element of foreign policy narratives and how memor...

This paper explores the role of Official Development Assistance (ODA) in Turkey’s foreign policy by looking how it can function as a foreign policy instrument. With the example of the Western Balkans, a strategic region in the contemporary Turkish foreign policy realm, we will show that Turkey’s development cooperation is more than just sharing its...