A Practical Roadmap for Sustained U.S. Engagement in the Western Balkans

Executive Summary

Lingering governance challenges in the Western Balkans are significant enough to potentially plunge the entire region into tumult. While not a top regional priority, U.S. national interests are served and preserved in the Western Balkans by promoting sustained political and institutional engagement that prevents conflict. Promoting security in regions that are proximate to the core geographic zones of U.S. national interest – in this case, the Eurasian borderlands – has not been a permanent component of U.S. foreign policy.

Today, perhaps more so than at any point in the recent past, the global security and governance situation remains dangerous and fragile. The U.S. public and its elected officials appear at odds over the country’s strategic trajectory. It is critical, then, for policymakers to identify deliberate actions that advance U.S. vital interests in a sustainable way. This requires a practical and actionable roadmap for sustained U.S. engagement in the Western Balkans.

Such a policy can be achieved in two ways: first by asserting U.S. security interest in Washington’s approach to the region; and second by advancing broader stability and governance measures.

Policy Recommendations

1. Prioritize engagement with those who exemplify adherence to the rule of law.

As a baseline, the U.S. should unequivocally amplify the message that preferred U.S. partners are countries, entities, and individuals that adhere to the rule of law, seek balanced government, engage constructively with their citizens, and protect minority rights. These countries have, will, and should benefit first from U.S. engagement, support, and investment.

The creation of Albania’s Special Structure against Corruption and Organized Crime (SPAK) has highlighted a commitment to anti-corruption efforts as part of a reform agenda and serious EU accession path. The Albanian defense forces work closely with the U.S. to counter Iranian cyber activity and strengthen Albanian’s defense, civil society, and democratic governance. Albania is a U.S. partner of choice because of its commitment to reform and modernization.

Regional irredentists and some international actors advocate further separation in the Balkans along ethnic lines or to redraw borders to calm ethnic tensions. This is imprudent and runs counter to codified U.S. policy which states that “the U.S. shall not propose any policy that advocates for land swaps, partition, or other forms of redrawing borders along ethnic lines as a means to arbitrate disputes between nation states in the region.”

A system such as Bosnia and Herzegovina’s, or the so-called “association of Serb municipalities” in Kosovo, which creates an imprudent layer of ethnic administration, creates even more confusion in governance and partnership for the United States. A nation’s duly elected federal government should speak for it with a single voice, negotiate international contracts and trade deals. and defend cooperation agreements. Carving up territory into enclaves or allowing autonomy in ethnic groupings does damage to the region and U.S. strategic interests.

The U.S. should work directly with the lawful security services of the region to protect the constitutional order, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of vulnerable regional polities.

The U.S. should expand partnership programs in the Balkans that strengthen the foundations of good governance and that increase business climate feasibility. Programs like the Department of Commerce’s Commercial Law Development Program (CLDP) and the Department of Justice’s Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development Assistance and Training (OPDAT) provide technical experts to advise and assist. Finally, the five-year Economic and Development Strategy envisioned in the Western Balkans Democracy and Prosperity Act will be key to facilitate future connection between the U.S. and the Balkans and should be prioritized in implementation for those countries who provide the most durable and rational U.S. investment.

2. Promote stability through investment and economic growth

The U.S. must work through organizations like the Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and with American Chambers of Commerce to secure the region’s economic foundation. Encouraging prudent fiscal structures insulates against nefarious influence and creates permanent stability mechanisms. Stabilization occurs by abiding by financial anti-money laundering and anti-trafficking standards required for expanded U.S. investment.

The DFC, the international investment arm of the U.S. government, partners with the private sector to “mobilize capital for strategic investments across the world” and is already investing in the Balkans. It secured a $5.18 million loan portfolio guarantee to a Bosnian bank expanding lending opportunities for small to medium enterprises for the more than 2 million Bosnian nationals living outside of the country. The DFC also recently announced a supply chain resilience project in North Macedonia reviving a key antimony mine to bolster and diversify global antimony supply for U.S. and allies.

However, the DFC should open a regional Balkan office to manage, expand, and discover additional investment opportunities.

The investment climate is burgeoning. The European Investment Bank (EIB) opened an office in Podgorica, Montenegro, in 2025 signaling a major EIB regional commitment. The EIB also announced a €175 million euro commitment to modernize a key Montenegrin railway along Rail Route 4. U.S. investors should take advantage of what is quickly becoming a bull market for regional economic development and growth.

Nonetheless, while the lure of opaque projects and fast contracts secured through political favor may seem appealing in the near term, the way to ensure a long-term return on investment is through transparent processes and the existence and adherence to a rule of law regime in host countries.

3. Finish the promise of the Dayton Peace Agreement

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s constitutional framework is the Balkans’ most acute example of an incoherent governance structure. It is simply impossible to expect rational actions from the current irrational structure, which must be reformed into a construct that enables effective governance and transparent processes.

The U.S.-forged Dayton Peace Agreement was drafted and signed under duress and pressure as war-ravaged Sarajevo faced another winter. Understandably, the agreement was an important, but inelegant solution.

Though Dayton was a categorical success as a narrowly defined peace agreement, it should not be allowed to define the ceiling of U.S. interests or Bosnian aspirations. At worst, Dayton created an illiberal, ethnically divided country which has kept Bosnia’s government and her people largely separated along ethnic lines for the last 30 years. And by their own admission, U.S. architects of the agreement certainly never envisioned that it would survive three decades with virtually no structure amendments, precisely because they knew it would be insufficient as a long-term social contract and incapable of delivering on U.S. desires for decoupling from the Western Balkans.

Thus the U.S. should appoint a special envoy for Bosnian constitutional reforms to convene a working-level contact group, along with regional stakeholders and European leaders, with the aim of considering reforms. Civil society and expert groups have proposed a variety of models, that can be used as plausible starting points acceptable to all major political actors and advance U.S. strategic interests in the country and the region.

Targeted and sustained U.S. involvement can assist in the formulation of a constitutional regime that would enable Bosnia and Herzegovina’s entry into NATO by 2035 and create a realistic pathway toward the country’s EU aspirations. This can be done while realizing all the outstanding rulings of the European Court of Human Rights and the opinions of the Venice Commission and still preserving the country’s institutional unity and multiethnic character. The only practical path forward is to cement Bosnia as a secular, democratic state. It is time for the U.S. to work with Bosnians and finish what was started in Ohio.