Abstract
In this book the writers highlight the relationship between the EU and its four South Eastern memberstates–Greece, Slovenia, Croatia and Macedonia in three major policy sectors –cohesion, border managementand the environment,and assess the degree to which the European Union’s engagement with the democracies of South East Europe has promoted Europeanization and multi-level governance. There is a long-established tendency among the Europeansto consider the Balkans as a peripheral region. This book,however,argues that South East Europeis important for what the EU is,and aspires to become, and has a close connection to some of the key issues confronting the EU. The book compares changing approaches to governance in three policy areas which have been chosen,as they represent contentious issues in domestic politics; issues which can have policy consequences across national boundaries. There is significant EU involvementin these matters.