Study of Regionalism and Regional Self-Government in South-East Europe

This chapter frames the basic conceptual and research framework for the analysis of regionalism and regional self-government in South-East Europe, namely successor countries of the former Yugoslavia. The initial position of the research is the joint legal and institutional framework in which the former Yugoslavia functioned, after whose disintegration the institutional, political and legal development of the newly formed countries followed its own path. The chapter discusses basic concepts such as federalism, regionalism, regional self-government and the concept of region itself in order to set the common conceptual and terminological framework for the research. Following that, the basic research questions are determined that serve as a common framework for research in chapters dealing with the cases of individual countries created after the collapse of the former SFRY, as well as several basic cross cutting issues that are also dealt with in separate chapters of the book. Research questions that the book answers are the following: What is the state of regionalism and regional self-government in countries emerged after the dissolution of former Yugoslavia and what factors shape the potential debate on territorial (re)organization of these countries? Can regionalization serve as an answer to the position of territorially concentrated ethnic groups in analyzed countries? What is the interplay between deconcentrated state administration and institutions of territorial self-government in analyzed countries and what is the state of play of regional political movements and regional political parties in analyzed countries?