The Balkan region has changed fundamentally under the impact of the interacting forces of integration and transition shaping the new European economic landscape. For many countries, the 1990s were a period of serious crisis: this text explores the failure in transition from plan to market.

Overall, the volume includes 16 articles analyzing the economic performance and structure of the Balkan countries, their trade relations in a sectoral and geographical manner, the evolution and distribution of foreign direct investment, the performance of industry, the level and quality of social and technical infrastructure, the domestic policies of transition and the EU policies for the region. the evidence provided indicates that, should current trends continue in the future, the Balkan region will diverge further from the more advanced European countries, forming a newly expanded and much weaker European periphery. In that respect, mainstream economic thinking of the integration-transition dynamics needs to be re-evaluated, as multi-speed and multi-direction performances generate a more fragmented economic space than the very essence of the European idea may possibly tolerate.

Part 1 Analytical and policy issues: economic performance and structure in the Balkan Region
intra-Balkan trade and economic co-operation - past lessons for the future
multi-speed transition and multi-speed integration in Europe - recent economic developments in the Balkans
foreign direct investment and western firms' internalization strategies in the Balkan countries
structural reforms in Southeastern Europe - demonopolization and privatization in Albania, Bulgaria and Romania
industrial performance under transition - the impact of structure and geography
infrastructure comparisons in transition countries - a new north-south divide in Europe?
fragmentation or integration in the Balkans? - strategies of development for the 21st century
European policies for the reconstruction and development of the Balkans. Part 2 Case studies: peripherality and integration - the experience of Greece and its implications for the Balkan economies in transition
the Bulgarian economy in transition - possibilities for Balkan regional integration
economic transition in Albania - possibilities for co-operation with Balkan countries
Romania - transition and new conditions for regional co-operation
Greece and the Balkans - geography lost and found
geographical proximity matters in the orientation of FDI - Greek FDI in the CEECs
Bulgaria and Romania - the changing patterns of trade specialization with the EU during transition.