Emerging from a decade of violent ethnic and inter-state conflict during the 1990s, the countries of the Western Balkans entered a phase of rebuilding and reconciliation. Due to the key role played by the EU in the region's rebuilding efforts, Integrating the Balkans explores this institution's considerable efforts to influence and shape the nature of state, society and foreign relations, as it utilised the promise of membership as a vital tool to exert its influence._x000D_ _x000D_ The picture that materialises is one of the EU's discernible, but often contradictory, impact as it offers the carrot of EU membership in the hope that the legacies of the past conflict can be re-evaluated, re-imagined and transformed. By also analysing the conditions that come with EU aid, such as co-operation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Máire Braniff offers an extremely important perspective for all those involved in the study and practice of the processes of European integration and post-conflict resolution._x000D_ _x000D_ 'This is an informative and well-argued account of the EU's involvement in the Balkans. Conceptually robust and empirically rich, this book discusses the EU's impact on post conflict-societies in Croatia and Serbia and explores the potential and limitations of EU enlargement as a driver for reform in Southeast Europe. An important read for scholars of Balkan politics and the external relations of the European Union.'_x000D_ - Dr Dimitris Papadimitriou, Reader in European Politics and Co-Director of the Manchester Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence (JMCE), University of Manchester.