Trust

The EU is still seen as the Western Balkans’ anchor for stability and modernisation. But where reforms remain invisible and institutions remain captured, European support risks strengthening expectations without delivering democratic trust.

This paper examines how persistent trust deficits and fragile social cohesion shape EU democracy promotion in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Drawing on original survey-vignette data from Sarajevo and Tuzla and process tracing of EU-funded democracy initiatives, it shows how low institutional trust, perceptions of elite capture, and weak local ownership constrain democratic resilience despite strong public support for EU integration

This paper examines how acute political crisis and mass civic mobilisation are reshaping trust, social cohesion, and EU democracy promotion in Serbia. Drawing on original survey-vignette data and process tracing, it shows how rising horizontal trust alongside collapsing institutional trust conditions citizens’ engagement with reform, complicates EU interventions, and exposes the limits of democracy promotion in a hybrid regime under strain

How does EU democracy promotion operate in a country that is firmly pro-European yet persistently hybrid? Drawing on original survey data and process-tracing of EU-funded justice and media reforms, this paper argues that selective trust and informal power mediate Europeanisation in Albania, shaping how citizens experience reform, allocate credibility, and engage with EU-linked institutions