ABSTRACT
This chapter assesses the effects of regional security cooperation and aims to evaluate how far the region has progressed from being a conflict zone in the 1990s towards regional integration. It reflects on the prospects for the Western Balkan region to become a security community. A model of security cooperation that precludes the use of violence in resolving mutual disputes, characteristic of a deep regional integration regime, as is the case with the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The chapter argues that most regional security cooperation in the Western Balkans is externally driven. It discusses the role of the police in national security and the importance of police practices for establishing sustainable regional security cooperation. The chapter describes the methodology and data used to analyse the empirical case study. It presents the regional practices of the Macedonian police in the present context in which post-conflict sovereignty concerns are combined with European integration aspirations.
