DEMOCRATIZATION AND NEOLIBERALISM IN THE BALKANS: THE DILEMMA OF (IN)COMPATIBILITY OF SIMULTANEITY

Abstract

Balkan countries are undergoing a system transformation process structured bydemocracy and free market economy of the neoliberal model, large outside snowballdriven accompanied by the spirit of triumphalism of freedom over slavery, ofdemocracy over totalitarianism, and of free market (of neoliberal model) oversocialism. The primary concern appears transformation as an act, with lessattention paid to the quality, the substance and even less to the outputs of it. As thetransformation enters into its third decade, on the horizon still appears a wide gapbetween the expectations and the fruits of transformation tasted by citizens.Obviously, each Balkan country concerned here has its own peculiarities, fromwhere can be drawn the explanation for the development of this gap. However, thepaper argues that among the major explanations of generalisability value, is theincompatibility of simultaneity of democracy and neoliberalism during systemtransformation. Neoliberalism is challenging the institutional structural efficiency,while at the society level it is producing a social milieu not conducive fordevelopment of democratic consolidation.