Aleksandar Pavkovic is associate professor at the Department of Politics and International Studies at Macquarie University. His research is focused on the creation of new states and state-building in Europe and elsewhere. In his research on the origins and construction of the supra-national European identity, he is attempting to identify those aspects of the European Union, in particular that of European citizenship, which may lead to the creation of a political and legal identity transcending the traditional national boundaries. In his research on the creation of states in the Western Balkans, he has explored the often contradictory roles that the EU (and earlier the EC) has played in this process. In particular, his research concerns the process of integration of the highly fragmented and continuously fragmenting Western Balkan region into the EU. He is also interested in the secessionist movements and secessionist demands in Spain and the UK and their relation to the process of European integration.