US POLICY TOWARDS THE WESTERN BALKANS REGION

Abstract

The article examines the evolution of U.S. policy toward the Western Balkans after 2008. The purpose of the study is to identify the main stages, priorities and instruments of American policy in the region under changing geopolitical conditions. The methodological basis combines historical-political and structural-functional approaches, which make it possible to trace the transformation of U.S. regional strategy in the context of broader geopolitical changes. The study demonstrates that after 2008 the United States reduced direct political involvement in the region, delegating a significant part of responsibility to the European Union while maintaining influence through security cooperation, financial assistance and diplomatic initiatives. The United States of America remains the only state with a global strategic presence and the ability to project power worldwide. It has traditionally been involved in major international crises and played a decisive role in resolving military conflicts in the Western Balkans during the 1990s following the col- lapse of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Despite considerable resources of both hard and soft power, however, the United States did not fully consolidate control over the region. Over the past two decades, the Western Balkans have achieved a certain degree of stability due to integration policies and comprehensive American and Europe- an financial, political, economic and institutional assistance. As a result, Slovenia and Croatia joined the European Union and NATO, while Albania, North Macedonia and Montenegro became members of the Alliance. At the same time, the region continues to face numerous unresolved problems, including territorial disputes, authoritarian tendencies, corruption and low living standards. The gradual transformation of the international system from unipolarity to multipolarity has turned the Western Balkans into an arena of geopolitical competition among the United States, the European Union, China and Russia. It is shown that growing strategic competition with China and Russia has renewed Washington’s interest in the region, despite the previous tendency to reduce direct engagement. U.S. policy toward the Western Balkans has therefore evolved from active intervention to selective diplomatic presence and targeted financial assistance. Scientific novelty lies in the systematization of the main trends of U.S. regional policy until 2026 and in clarifying the influence of both external geopolitical competition and internal regional transformations on its evolution. The study concludes that even the current isolationist orientation of Donald Trump’s administration, expressed through the principle of “America First”, does not imply a complete withdrawal of the United States from the Western Balkans, as Washington continues to preserve strategic instruments of influence in the region.