ABSTRACT
This contribution analyses the role of the EU on reforms and changes in Montenegro, with a special focus on the EU’s impact on statehood and democratization. Montenegro has become the frontrunner among the Western Balkan states. This progress however has not been endogenous to the capacity of the domestic Montenegrin actors to induce change to the governance structures or the societal actors to foster democratic values. Rather, it has been an exogenously driven process, in which the EU has been the most significant agent of domestic change. The chapter argues that the EU has had a major role in the statehood and democratization of Montenegro through two interrelated processes: (1) the mediation of the statehood issue, which contributed to state building and (2) the forcing of consensus among domestic actors, which resulted in significant legislative changes required in the context of the EU enlargement process.
