Cutting or Tightening the Gordian Knot

taken as “given”, i.e. psychologically accepted as unalterable, or least recognised
as alterable only at quite unacceptable cost.
Reaching a “finalité politique” in terms of borders is the sine qua non of
the region’s durable stabilisation, which means successful integration
into the European mainstream. Past experience strongly suggests that
achieving EU membership is only feasible with states that have both the
minimal political consensus on the main goals and the functional capacities
to pursue them.
The search is still on for “closure” on questions of statehood and borders
in the region. I should explain what I mean by “closure”. This is a term
derived from psychology rather than political science. “Closure” does
not mean deciding to be happy with the situation you find yourself in. It
does not mean you are fully (or even at all) reconciled with what has
happened to you. You may well feel you will not, and cannot, ever want
that. But it does mean recognising that grief and bitterness can take on
self-destructive, suicidal dimensions. “Closure” is a way of somehow
‘ring-fencing’ the problem, shutting it up in a box and putting it to one
side for the time being – recognising that, for now, nothing more can be
done about it. It means taking a respite, focussing on something else,
trying another tack. The result, in time, may be that the context changes
so that either it becomes easier to tackle the problem, or you change your
perception of its significance. That may of course not be the result – but
at least meanwhile you have not destroyed yourself and may even have
gained something of value, even if not the thing you most wanted.
If this psychological shift towards “closure” on questions of statehood
and borders could be made in Balkan politics, it would prepare the
ground for a shift from absolutist and non-negotiable ethno-nationalist
demands and interminable zero-sum games to the more prosaic but usually
more productive politics of “the art of the possible”.
Yet what I detect in the Western Balkans is a lack of serious interest on
the part of political leaders to achieving closure. A mode of elite politics
persists that can be dated back to the 1990s (and probably even before)
that is attuned to, and feeds on, endemic uncertainty. It exploits, rather
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