ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the emergence of the fragmented state is the result of its de-politicization, which occurred through pluralization, agencification, party-politicization and dispersion. Lacking stable and coherent laws as a means of integration, elites from South Eastern Europe (SEE) have attempted to re-integrate their states, economies and societies through informal networks and relationships of reciprocity. The chapter aims to shed light on the processes that have produced state fragmentation in several countries from SEE. Carl Schmitt’s key concepts of neutralization and de-politicization have created, as Schmitt himself argued, much confusion. The process of the democratic pluralization (and polarization) of the state started right after the collapse of communism in the early 1990s. Good governance reform is a highly political process, which affects power relationships and the distribution of resources. External good governance promotion in SEE has been characterized by processes of dispersion and in particular a lack of reform coordination.
