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For some time, scholars have argued that Western and Eastern Europe differ in terms of the political culture of their unified political communities. Since all the available evidence indicates that political culture is crucial to the economic performance and political stability of individual states, it is important to detect the drivers behind the basic beliefs of citizens, two and a half decades after the fall of communism. The Relevant World Values Survey and the European Values Survey reports repeatedly confirmed that whilst the support for democracy is strong among the citizens of the former communist Eastern Europe, their belief in the vital components of a democratic political culture is weak. It could be argued that some post-communist countries have been less successful in building the "moral infrastructure of democracy" due to the resilient democratic values deficit, based partially upon the political and economic attitudes from the past. In a separate section of this chapter, the results of a survey conducted on a group of students from the Republic of Macedonia are presented and their replies on the dichotomy between autocratic and democratic values are analyzed. By assessing the opinions of the students who had not been born when communism was still alive, it has been concluded that a substantial cultural shift will have to take place if the current system of formal democracy is to be replaced by a more effective one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European identity, as a common value, consists of diverse philosophical, historical and cultural elements, which are based on historical roots and are continually being supplemented with new elements. It is an identity, like any other collective identity, which is trying to produce unity in diversity. The values of identity are often expressed through a number of its objectives and principles such as: peace, democracy, freedom, equality, justice, prosperity, human rights, social cohesion and environmental protection. Collective identity enables any society to establish the necessary cohesion for living together in solidarity and mutual assistance, without erasing the differences among its members. The European Union aims, through its accession to the Union, to meet these ambitious values in the lives of their peoples. It is a challenge and there will be a need to engage all forces and resources in order to build a strong European identity. The concept of European identity has been introduced into political discourse and the European agenda during the last three decades. It has also been the subject of a number of treaties and official documents. The concept of European identity is problematic itself but it is still at the centre of the debate in Europe. While the European Union crashes interstate border and tries to establish the European Society, European citizens and European identity; at the same time, it tries to reconcile the diversity of national identity under the common name - European identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protracted crisis in the European Union has substantially augmented lingering euro-skepticism on the continent. Member-countries are desperate to restore the legitimacy of the organization, while descending perceptions about values of the EU integration model among candidates and would be members are real. Inward-looking EU is less engaged in imposing conditionality which has been for more than a decade a main instrument in exporting democracy. With the EU gravitational effects largely absent, nationalistic and populist sentiments are gaining ground in some parts of the Western Balkans, advocating alternatives to European integration as a regional gate to globalization. What does the past record of several Eurasian regional organizations imply about their potential to serve as sustainable alternatives to the European Union? Can the regional trends in the wider Euro-Asian area eventually open up alternative perspectives for some of the Western Balkan countries trailing back on their European path? In this article, the performances of a few regional organizations in Eurasia in several domains will be analyzed applying the comparative method. The aim of the paper is to depict a different genesis and civilizational background and emphasize structural flaws and comparative weaknesses of these organizations to the European Union, especially in the area of political and cultural values underpinning their engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]