The Balkans as a Transitional Region Between Internal Circles and Global Squarings in the Paradigm of Hybrid Power

The Balkan geopolitical conundrum lends itself well to being represented by the vain effort of squaring a circle. The article responds to this challenge by proposing a theory of the Balkans as a transitional region. Conflict dynamics within its western flank are analysed, highlighting their substantial circularity. It also considers attempts by global geopolitical actors to square the Balkan circle. In order to get out of the so-called sovereignty labyrinth, which shackles both internal and external actors to the absoluteness of a legal principle, the peculiarities of the transitional region point the way to the governance function. The amphibious image with which this form of power can be represented reveals its essentially hybrid nature, which is an alternative to both the terrestrial character of the Juridical and the maritime character of the Economic. This makes governance a paradigm of the Political that proves to be more suited than ever to the precisely hybrid modes of conflict in contemporary geopolitics.