Rethinking islamized Balkans

Abstract

Could Islamized Balkans be a threat for European Union security? The foreign fighters phenomenon exists in Western Balkans countries but it is overestimated. The population in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Albania is majority Sunni Muslim, and in former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia 33% of Macedonian are Muslims. Balkans Islamism is westernized and not radical, because of Balkans history. The presence of Balkan foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq is not because of Sunni Islam (Salafi), but because of socio-economic condition of these countries. A low degree of development, high youth unemployment and low GDP per capita are responsible of the re-Islamization phenomenon and its radicalism. The European Union should cooperate with the Balkan States in order to fight this phenomenon and to prevent the future radicalization of the younger population. This work will analyse the Balkans Islam through the history and Samuel Huntington’s theoretical analysis. The analysis of Samuel Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations is necessary to understand how ethnic conflicts in Bosnia and Herzegovina and, also, in all Balkans are not guided by religious or ethnical difference, but from regional and international political projects.