On the Other Side of the Mountain: Scientific Communities in the South East Europe

During the last two decades the countries and societies of South-East Europe experienced extensive turmoil and profound transformations, challenging observers to reimagine the Balkans. In the late 1990s, numerous international actors led by the EU were active in promoting the idea of a SEE region as a more appealing notion. Cross-border initiatives were framed to address variety of sub-regional entities focused on environment and organized around seas, watersheds, and mountains.  Experience from the regional initiatives such as the Alpine and the Carpathian Conventions show that the formation of a transnational network of scientists is one of the important elements for collective action towards regional governance where the ecological system in focus. This paper will examine the regional influence of the epistemic communities through an analysis of mountain focused environmental initiatives in the SEE region, such as the ‘Dinaric Arc Initiative’ and the ‘South East Europe mountain research network’.  I will describe in what way I believe the SEE region mountain scientific community has been fragmented by environmental initiatives that brought further differentiations to the SEE region. The study relies on analysis of scientific assessments and reports, observation of key regional meetings, and interviews with scientists and policymakers