Bideleux Robert, Jeffries Ian. The Balkans. A post-Communist history

Routledge, 2007. — 620 p.The Balkans: A Post-Communist History is a country-by-country treatment of the contemporary history of each of the Balkan states: Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Kosova.
This survey focuses on political and economic continuities and changes since the 1990s. It includes brief overviews of the history of each state prior to the 1980s to provide the background to enable readers to make sense of the more recent developments.
The book has a distinctive conceptual framework for explaining divergent patterns of historical change. This shifts the emphasis away from traditional cultural explanations, especially cultural and national stereotyping, and instead concentrates on the pervasive influence of strongly entrenched vertical power structures and power relations.
The Balkans is an excellent companion volume to the successful A History of Eastern Europe, by the same authors. This is an invaluable book for all students of Eastern European history.List of tables.List of abbreviations.
Map.
Conceptual frameworks: ‘The Balkans’ and the nature of post-Communist democratization and economic transformations.
Albania: between a rock and a hard place.
Bulgaria: the Devil has all the best tunes.
Romania: the road to the EU is paved with good intentions.
Croatia: paying a price.
Serbia: from Serbdom to pariahdom.
Bosnia and Herzegovina: the travails of coexistence.
Macedonia: towards a bi-national state?
Montenegro: to be or not to be?
Kosova: the forging of a nation and a state.
The post-Communist Balkans, the West and the EU: major challenges and contradictions between rhetoric and reality.