Since the 19th century the Balkans have been integrating themselves into Europe. However, it still completely remains a 'peripheral area'. The application of the patterns of a dynamic western civilization on agrarian, autarkic and relatively static cultures in the Balkan countries was not easy and often resulted in crises reflected in all aspects of life. Pre-war regimes in Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Romania and Greece tried in vain to confront these crises. They did not manage to solve the critically important agrarian problem, nor did they succeed in their attempts to maintain political stability. Therefore, in the end, the institutions, founded after the establishment of the national states, followed the path laid by authoritative structures. The collapse of the Balkan regimes before and during the Second World War formed conditions for the entry of modernisation which, however, was taking place in the scope of 'the construction of socialism'. The whole process can be documented in the specific development of Romania, which changed into an agrarian-industrial country in the post-war forties. In its final phase, the communist regime bore many problems. Today, Romania is on the threshold of a new era of modernisation.
