Today, most of Europe is free from dictatorships and conflict. Yet, these spectres loom in neighbouring states and nearby regions. This column suggests that this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, awarded to the EU, was perhaps a call to action. Can the EU, preoccupied as it is with a growing Eurozone crisis, encourage peace and democracy in its neighbourhood? And what are the lessons we can learn from recent EU policy history?

Fifteen years after the Dayton Peace Accords, unresolved conflicts in Bosnia and Herzegovina have deadlocked its political system and crippled economic growth. In their second column on the Balkans, the authors argue that to prevent the country from falling apart – with dire consequences for the region – increased engagement by both the EU and the US is needed.

With the end of the Balkan conflicts in the late 1990s, the EU and the US set up the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe. This column – the first of two – argues that, as well as promoting regional economic integration, the Pact’s central aim was to safeguard peace. It suggests reasons why it took so long for the Balkans to negotiate regional free trade and why they ultimately succeeded.

Should Turkey join the EU? This column argues for Turkish membership in order to wed the economic interests of the country with the rest of Europe and reduce the chance of future conflict. To start the process of EU membership, Turkey should be invited to enter the European Economic Area.