The Visegrad Four and the Western Balkans: Framing Regional Identities

The Western Balkans and the Visegrad Group are two macro-regions within the larger Eastern European area. Geographically and historically close, both regions share comparable characteristics on a macro-regional level as well as among the region’s individual countries on a national level. However, when it comes to identities, the national level seems unavoidable: politically speaking, identity means national identity first and foremost. The authors of this book, who come from both regions, examine the ways in which the very sense of regional belonging might-or might not-override the shortcomings of and the obstacles erected by national identity. The varied case studies in the book focus on aspects of identity and their political (mis)use by actors in the regions under study.