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The central argument of this paper pivots around the idea that the structure and functioning of the states and political systems of South Eastern Europe are strongly determined by a long lasting particular feature of the economies and societies of the region: their dualism. This feature has its origins in the modernization process, has evolved in parallel with it and has shaped in a distinctive way both the structure and the dynamics of the polities and states of these countries. The dualism of their economies is thus a key explanatory factor in any attempt to understand the dynamics of the region. Moreover, dualism has always played a crucial role in the process of international integration of South Eastern Europe in the European and global system and it is very likely that it will continue to play a major role in the future. Accordingly the approach articulated is not laying the emphasis on ethnicity, nationalism or religion as the mainstream approaches to the states and problems of the South East European region usually do, but on the regional political economies and on what this paper considers to be their key structural problem. It is indeed difficult to imagine and analyse the Balkan problems making abstraction of the powerful ethnic and religious forces that shaped the destiny of the region but it is important to approach these problems from different and complementary angles. The present analysis implies a simplification indeed, but it is an instrumental and pragmatic one that helps us to discern and disentangle some patterns or configurations of factors relevant for a better understanding of the internal evolutions and of the international integration prospects of South Eastern Europe. The main objective of the paper is to use a specific way of conceptualizing the political economy dynamics of the region in order to illuminate from a structural and historic perspective a crucial problem currently faced by the Balkan states in their attempt to settle on the path of self-sustained growth and European integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]