ABSTRACT
This chapter explores identity construction in former Yugoslavia and analyses layers of self-identification in the region. Employing a social-constructivist methodology, this research shows how perceptions of self and other were shaped within communist Yugoslavia and problematizes Yugoslavism as civic identity. The research then moves to the emergence of Western Balkans, which is analysed in terms of social representation and social construct. The second part of this chapter will outline the development of EU’s relations with countries from the Western Balkan region. The main goal herein is to investigate perceptions of EU in the Western Balkans and to show how a sense of belonging and a (Western Balkan) identity were assigned to countries of the region. The claim is that the term Western Balkans was the result of discourses and practices of the European Union and that their belonging to this social and geographic representation was exogenous to their agency.
