Through the intervention of the European Union, the lives of people living in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Kosovo have been transformed beyond recognition. From the perspective of the Western Balkans today, the EU looks and acts like a development agency with a broad brief and deep pockets. Yet until the end of the twentieth century, external relations and foreign policy were minor aspects of EU activity. How and why has the role of the EU changed so dramatically and what does this reveal about the future development of the Balkan states? Europe's Balkan Dilemma offers the first comprehensive analysis of the impact of EU assistance and intervention in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Kosovo. Adam Fagan places the fundamental question of what has been achieved through the EU's increased involvement in the region in the context of the EU's ambitions in global security and conflict management beyond the Balkan states. Europe's Balkan Dilemma will be a vital resource not only for students of International Relations and European Studies but also for anyone involved in helping to equip this tumultuous region for the next phase in its eventful history.

Adam Fagan is Reader in Politics in the Department of Politics at Queen Mary, University of London, in the UK.

Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. The EU and the Western Balkans
. The EU and Post-Socialist Europe: assistance, association and accession.
. The EU and the Western Balkans: entrants, candidates and potential candidates
. EU priorities and conditionality in the Potential Candidate Countries: a different approach and agenda?
. EU Aid and Assistance 2000-2006: The CARDS programme
. Aid and assistance 2007-2013: the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA)
2. Theorizing EU assistance and intervention in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Kosovo
. Civil society development aid as a framework for assessing EU assistance
. Capacity building instead of civil society?
. A good governance perspective on EU assistance
3. The EU in Bosnia-Herzegovina
. Bosnia's past and present: external development and intervention
. Post-war Bosnia-Herzegovina: from Dayton to Brussels
. Bosnia and the EU
4. The EU in Serbia
. Serbian politics after MiloSevi?
. Serbia and the EU: political context and recent developments
. EU assistance to Serbia
5. Quantitative analysis of EU assistance to Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia
6. EU assistance and intervention in Kosovo: lessons learnt?
. Civil society and the non-state sector in Kosovo - the challenge for EU assistance
. EU assistance in practice: the European Agency for Reconstruction (EAR)
Conclusion