Overview: South Eastern Europe

South Eastern Europe was the continent’s most troubled region in the 1990s. Tens of thousands were killed in ethnic-based conflict throughout the states of the former Yugoslavia, and the often uneasy peace that has prevailed in the new millennium continues to be buffeted by distrust and occasional bursts of violence.

The countries that managed to avoid widespread conflict have not fared much better in other areas, however. Although all the region’s governments are now at least nominally democratic, few have successfully addressed serious lingering problems including poverty, corruption, infrastructure degradation, and population decline.

These shared problems mask the fact that the region continues to divide into two markedly different groups: countries that have been promised admission to the European Union in the not-too-distant future (Bulgaria, Croatia, and Romania) and those still struggling with bouts of political and ethnic hostility and citizen dissatisfaction (in particular Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, and Serbia and Montenegro). Members of the former group have a much greater incentive and ability to consider and adopt policies that will eventually propel them toward higher living standards and improved human rights conditions.

The Open Society Institute and its 10 affiliated Soros foundations in South Eastern Europe collaborate closely to develop regional cooperation and tackle major open society issues. In recent years, they have agreed to a regional agenda of cross-border projects in the areas of anticorruption, education, public health, media, illegal labor migration, and minority issues. At the national level, the foundations continue to work with governments on initiating and implementing education, judiciary, public administration, and public health reforms.