Crisis or opportunity? Turkey, Greece and the political economy of South-East Europe in the 2010s.

During the 2000s, the European Union (EU) and the euro zone provided anchors for regional integration in South-East Europe including the Western Balkans. Today’s crisis has called into question the credibility but not the desirability of that framework, and regional actors can still mobilize building blocks forged in the past decade for much needed bottom-up reforms. The process could be galvanized by a regional insider with economic and political capital. With Greece absorbed in its own crisis, Turkey is a candidate for such a role. Assessing Ankara’s capacity to drive change in the region vis-à-vis the debate over its once touted, apparently moribund ‘zero-problems-with-neighbours’ policy, we argue that Turkey’s most sustained foreign policy success has been in the Western Balkans. This is because its approach complement the soft instrument legacies of the earlier EU framework for regional integration. As such, if Ankara abandons its own commitment to economic and political liberalization, it may forfeit its potential to serve as a leader in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]