US Foreign Policy in the Western Balkans from 1993 to 2009

Bc. Mgr. Vladimir Đorđević, Ph.D.

Doctoral thesis

Abstract:

Tato disertační práce představuje analýzu a srovnání dvou po sobě jdoucích amerických vlád v období mezi lety 1993 a 2009, vládu Williama J. Clintona a následně George W. Bushe, a jejich zahraniční politické cíle a zájmy v regionu západního Balkánu. V tomto ohledu si práce klade za cíl prokázat, že porozumění regionu v zahraniční politice a americká úloha v ní v obou vládních obdobích byla v podstatě stejná. Cílem doktorské práce je srovnání a rozbor americké politiky a přístupu k regionu v období vlády dvou různých amerických prezidentů, kteří ovšem zaujímali velmi podobný postoj v oblasti zahraničních politických cílů a zájmů. Tato práce je zpracovaná pomocí metody obsahové analýzy a zároveň pomocí analýzy diskurzu vybraných primárních zdrojů. Práce je také zaměřena na prokázání, že dominantní významy týkající se chápání západního Balkánu a americká role zde byly stejné u obou prezidentů.

Abstract:

This PhD project presents an analysis and comparison of two consecutive US Administrations in the period between 1993 and 2009, the one of William J. Clinton and the other of George W. Bush, and their foreign policy goals and interests in the region of Western Balkans. In that respect, the thesis aims to prove that the foreign policy understanding of the region and the US role in it with both Administrations remained essentially the same. Therefore, the case argued here is that both of the Administrations in question comprehended the region in the same fashion and therefore had same or very similar foreign policy goals and interests in it. In that regard, this thesis addresses, using methods of Content Analysis (CA) and then Discourse Analysis (DA) of selected primary sources, the aforementioned issue of the goals and interests of both Administrations in the region and, in addition, provides insight into how comparable, and hence similar, these actually were in the period from 1993 to 2009. More than that, the thesis is also aimed at presenting an analytical insight into the matter of the foreign policy understanding of the Western Balkans with both Administrations, and is thus seeking to demonstrate that the dominant meanings/images concerning the understanding of the Western Balkans and the American role in it were the same with these Administrations. This, last but not least, also means that this thesis aspires to confirm continuity in dominant meanings/images concerning the foreign policy goals and interests of the two foreign policy discourse(s) analyzed. Hence, both Administrations maintained the (re)production of the same foreign policy discourse on the Western Balkans, and, in addition, resorted to very much similar language, which also meant engaging in (re)production of the same foreign policy discourse. In respect to the previously presented points, it may be claimed that, as it is shown in this project, both Administrations shared the goal of stabilizing the region of Western Balkans and then ‘remaking’ it thorough the democratic transformation process. The Clinton Administration primarily engaged in resolving the conflicts in the region, largely in order to stop their spread and put an end to many of the then urgent regional problems, and this was supposed to be a prelude for the democratization of the region. On the other hand, the G. W. Bush Administration also laid heave emphasis on the stabilization of the region through the democratization process and the Euro-Atlantic integration, and its discourse in this regard, very much like the one of the previous Administration, was substantial. Thus, both Administrations actually aimed at one and the same goal in the region at hand, and this/these regional goal(s) and interest(s) did not witness any (significant) change from the Clinton to the Administration of G. W. Bush. Thus, both of these Administrations specifically aimed at accomplishing the following: a) stabilization of the region, which was in the Clinton Administration largely understood as prevention of further escalation of the conflict(s), while the G. W. Bush Administration had to counter, largely diplomatically, several much smaller, in terms of both size and form, insurgencies in the region, b) transformation of the region in terms of democratization, economic, and social transformation so as to further stabilize the Western Balkans, c) integration in the Euro-Atlantic structures and the process of regional integration into the wider Euro-Atlantic community. In addition, speaking of the methods used in this project, it is vital to point out that Content Analysis has in this project been used as the pre-analysis to Discourse Analysis. Hence, this pre-analysis has provided initial insights into the foreign policy discourses analyzed. This means that the language used has been subjected to analysis using AntConc, a freeware concordance program/tool developed to allow exploration and analysis of corpus

Abstract:

linguistics. After these initial insights on modes and patterns of language usage have been acquired and presented, the analysis proceeds in a more discursive direction where dominant meanings in discourse are identified, analyzed, and compared, in terms of both meaning and use, with both Administrations in question. Attention in this process is also paid to the foreign policy context in order to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the issue at hand. Last of all, it is important to mention that there are several contributions of this project. On the one hand, extending already existing knowledge on the topic at hand is considered crucial. Counting with the fact that the US involvement in the region has been a must for more than two decades now, this thesis is supposed to provide additional insight into the topic of the said American engagement and thus possibly address some of continuing debates regarding the US role in the region, especially after 2000/01. In that respect, it is important to note that the US regional engagement has been a subject of numerous debates touching upon many different, and often rather ‘sensitive,’ such as, for example, ‘humanitarian intervention,’ or independence of Kosovo, issues in the modern international affairs. On the other hand, and very much in line with the previously presented points, it can be argued that other contribution of this thesis is also to shed additional light on the G. W. Bush’s engagement in the Western Balkans that has been much less researched and focused on than the one of his predecessor in the White House. Last but not least, both the Social Constructivist perspective presented in this thesis, and, on the other hand, the methods used represent powerful ‘tools’ not only in exploration of the said topic, primarily due to a very limited number of similar studies on the region, but chiefly in terms of analysis of constant changes in/of our social surroundings.

Keywords

Discourse Analysis, US Foreign Policy, Western Balkans, The Clinton Administration, The G. W. Bush Administration

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 21. 2. 2014

Thesis defence

• Date of defence: 25. 4. 2014
• Supervisor: doc. PhDr. Břetislav Dančák, Ph.D.
• Reader: Dr James Ker-Lindsay, Prof. dr. sc. Dejan Jović

Masaryk University

Faculty of Social Studies

Doctoral programme / field:
International Territorial Studies (4-years) / International Relations