ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how the EU's institutional framework has informed the understanding of territoriality in the Western Balkans with particular focus on the Croatian territorial restructuring debate prior to the country's accession to the European Union. The analysis aims to identify and interpret the domestic construction of territoriality via the articulation of contesting meanings of Europe. The chapter explores the multiple complexities of territorial representations in the countries of the Western Balkans. It discusses why mainstream approaches to studying Europeanization face difficulties in explaining multiple modes of governance in the Western Balkans. The chapter focuses on how accession conditionality with a specific focus on cohesion policy and pre-accession aid programs produces competing representations of regions and territoriality in the Western Balkans. The Croatian territory is highly heterogeneous, composed of several geographically, economically, and culturally distinct areas with deeply rooted regional identities.
