This title was first published in 2001. A comparative overview and analysis of the economic performance, structure and trade relations of the Balkan region. Using original, detailed and up-to-the minute data, the contributors detect basic trends and developments with respect to trade relations, foreign direct investment, the performance of industry, the level and quality of infrastructure, the domestic policies of transition as well as the European Union policies for the region. The evidence provided indicates that should current trends continue in the future, the Balkan region will diverge further from the more advanced European countries, forming a new expanded and much weaker European periphery. In that respect, mainstream economic thinking of the integration-transition dynamics needs to be re-evaluated, as multi-speed and multi-direction performances generate a more fragmented economic space than the very essence of the European idea may possibly tolerate.