Paper accepted on 28 December 2024
https://doi.org/10.18485/sres.2024.3.2.7
ABSTRACT: European integration has played a significant role in shaping a new historical policy across Europe. After World War II, representatives of European nations sought to establish appropriate frameworks for studying the shared European past through multilateral channels and in various institutional settings. However, despite efforts to adopt broader, common frameworks for understanding history, historical narratives continue to be politically weaponized in bilateral relations between European states. This paper explores the individual politico-historical practices in European institutions and the unresolved historical issues that persist in bilateral relations between EU member states. Additionally, the paper examines the political disputes among the Western Balkan countries — Serbia, Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina — stemming from differing interpretations of their shared history. In light of the rising influence of right-wing ideologies across Europe and the prominence of nationalistic narratives, the paper ends by identifying potential areas of commonality, particularly through figures who could serve as unifying national heroes in a politically fragmented region.
KEY WORDS: history, Europe, EU, right wing, narrative.
