Balkan Odyssey

Chief European Community negotiator David Owen offers an intimate, uncompromising account of the failed international effort to keep the peace following the breakup of the former Yugoslavia. Owen gives a first-hand account of the negotiations and behind the scenes machinations of the crisis in the Balkans.

It’s 1968. The world is in turmoil. So is twenty-three-year-old Anna Rossi, who questions everything about her life, from her mostly Jewish heritage to her fear of intimacy. Summer in Europe with a childhood friend offers a perfect way to escape her demons. When her friend abandons her in Italy, Anna makes the rash decision to travel on with strangers. Her journey takes a perilous turn, leading her into conflict in Eastern Europe and into the heart of the Balkans. Love, Intrigue, Betrayal—Anna must find the strength to survive.

Travelling through cities and towns once ravaged by the Balkan Wars, Jason Smart witnesses firsthand the beauty of this much-maligned region. With his friend, Michael, they find out that the Balkans is not a region to avoid; it is a part of Europe to explore and embrace. From the urban sprawl of Belgrade, to the tranquility of a glacial lake in Slovenia, the pair experiences the Balkans up close. Find out how they end up in a rickety clock tower in Macedonia, do battle with a sticky nemesis in Kosovo, and learn that Albania had a king called Zog. The Balkan Odyssey is a journey through every country of the former Yugoslavia (and Albania too). Join Jason as he visits Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Kosovo and Albania. Jason Smart is a published author, with articles appearing in both magazines and print. Currently he has two other travel books published, together with a book chronicling his journey to become a pilot. Find out more at his website www.theredquest.com.

An insider's account of the struggle for peace in Bosnia. Lord David Owen was Co-Chairman of the International Conf. on the former Yugoslavia and co-author of the Vance-Owen peace plan. Since stepping down as Peace Envoy, Lord Owen dedicated himself to producing this authoritative record of the struggle for peace. Provides instant access to hundreds of documents, source materials and videos. Contains the only inside look at the crisis -- correspondence with world leaders; BBC video footage; exclusive photos by Inaki Garcia; detailed maps from the U.K. Ministry of Defense; and a complete history of the conflict.

Has any good come out of the efforts to mediate the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia? The short answer is, 'Yes, but...' Mediation has brought about agreements that halted the fighting in Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia. Yet, the negotiations took too long, and their achievements came too late. Between 1991 and 1995 some two hundred thousand people lost their lives, and close to two million were uprooted from their homes. Saadia Touval examines why the efforts to reach a negotiated solution have not been more effective. He calls attention to two lessons: that collective mediation faces much greater obstacles than mediation by individual states, and that a mediator's priority should be saving lives, rather than aiming at other objectives, or even pursuing justice.

This book examines the historical, cultural and political dimensions of the crisis in Bosnia and the international efforts to resolve it. It provides a detailed analysis of international proposals to end the fighting, from the Vance-Owen plan to the Dayton Accord, with special attention to the national and international politics that shaped them. It analyzes the motivations and actions of the warring parties, neighbouring states and international actors including the United States, the United Nations, the European powers, and others involved in the war and the diplomacy surrounding it. With guides to sources and documentation, abundant tabular data and over 30 maps, this should be a definitive volume on the most vexing conflict of the post-Soviet period.