This article forms a critique of security sector reforms implemented in Albania and Montenegro between 2000 and 2007 by and on behalf of the European Union. It argues that within these reforms it is possible to discern a tension between a more holistic development approach and a security-based approach that is top-down and largely founded on the self-referential security concerns of the European Union. Drawing on research conducted by the author in Albania and Montenegro, the article utilizes public surveys to point out the distance between internal security reforms funded by the EU and the everyday security concerns of residents living in ineffectively policed states. The article concludes that a security-first agenda has slipped into the EU's aim to create an area of `freedom, security and justice'. Thus, while the rims of the Western Balkans are being secured, lack of reform in the interior hampers the socio-economic development and democratization of states engaged in the EU enlargement process.
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