ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to study the military dynamics, conventional arms control, and regional security in the Western Balkans since the end of the Yugoslav wars. The first section deals with the region’s transformation from a conflict zone to a security regime during the stabilisation phase (1995–2001). A critical aspect of this was creating the sub-regional conventional arms control (CAC) regime modelled after the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty (CFE). The chapter then analyses the consolidation phase (2002–13), when the region embarked on security community-building, while the CAC regime was fully implemented and transferred to regional ownership. The third section zooms in on the ongoing backsliding phase (2014–), when the region experienced a relapse of tensions and securitisations which halted security community-building. After briefly presenting how the war in Ukraine triggered this phase, the following sections unpack the evolving military dynamics and the heated rhetoric of the arms race and rising military budgets. The chapter concludes that these worrying trends and the ongoing military modernisation have not yet undermined the regional balance of power and the CAC regime.
