Root Causes Of Instability And Violence In The Balkans

The violence of Yugoslavia is soaked in historical injustice and nationalist tradition. Its historical mold is not unique; but the world's reaction is. The ongoing failure of Yugoslavia and its fractious cascade of regime changes are a product of flawed intervention. United States intervention failed because it opted for termination determined by strategic ways rather than resolution to meet strategic ends. The failure of Yugoslavia presents a model for flawed intervention and the instability achieved through the intrusion of sovereignty. This analysis follows a framework of examining the failure of U.S. intervention in Yugoslavia in three parts: (1) the developmental history that create the conditions for the latest Balkan War; (2) reasons and results of U.S. intervention; (3) strategic implications for similar interventions. The West intervened in the Yugoslavian conflict in the early 1990's to satisfy the interests of stability and alliances. This conflict remains unresolved in a hellish state of not-at-war and not-at-peace. No party considers the multiple peace agreements as just, an aspect that denies the enduring aspects of resolution. Truce without peace, or peace at any price defined the political logic of resolution. The West failed, its intervention first too slow and then later too brash. This occurred because the West developed a termination solution that failed to address the root causes of the war. The break-up of Yugoslavia was not caused by ancient hatreds or virulent nationalism. Nor did one historical villain perpetuate a war. It took several villains to exploit Yugoslavia's fatal flaws. The purpose of this analysis is to assess the efficacy of US Balkan intervention against the causes of the latest Balkan war. Resolution did not occur because the incentive of war was not exhausted. Its flaws were formalized in settlements that formalized ethnic divisions. These anachronistic solutions of ethnic distinction have been proven ineffective throughout Balkan history. This end had no prospect of success. The legacy of Yugoslavia is a requiem of injustice sustained by violent intervention. Contrary to many contemporary interpretations, the Balkan model of violent instability is neither rooted in ancient hatreds nor ethnocentrism. Instead, Balkan violence is the product of a contrived exploitation of the fears of internal and external marginalization. The potential of moderating elements has been arrested by ethno-centrist political maneuver. The unsolved questions of sovereignty, self-determination and nation further aggravate a maligned history. The region has attempted all forms of government, and none has survived. There is one commonality, until now its structures have always been the product of external intervention. Governments have been imposed but have never grown. Its history is a wound that has allowed no stage for democracy and has forfeited the promise of self-determination and sovereignty.

A study of three centuries of radical ideas and activity in English political and social history.

Paramilitary or irregular units have been involved in practically every case of identity-based mass violence in the modern world, but detailed analysis of these dynamics is rare. Exploring the case of former Yugoslavia, the genocides in Rwanda and Darfur, and the ongoing violence in Syria, Kate Ferguson exposes the relationships between paramilitaries, state commands, local communities, and organized crime. She presents these 'architectures of violence' as a way of comprehending how the various structures of command and control fit together into domestic and international webs of support enabling and encouraging irregular and paramilitary violence. Visible paramilitary participation in modern mass atrocities has succeeded in masking the continued dominance of the state in a number of violent crises. Irregular combatants have participated so significantly in committing atrocity crimes because political elites benefit from using unconventional forces to fulfil ambitions that violate international law--and international policy responses are hindered when responsibility for violence is ambiguous. Ferguson's inquiry into these overlooked dynamics of mass violence unveils substantial loopholes in current atrocity prevention architecture. Until these are addressed, state authorities will likely continue to use irregular combatants as perpetrators of atrocity.

Armed conflict on the territory of the former Yugoslavia between 1991 and 2001 claimed over 200,000 lives, gave rise to atrocities unseen in Europe since the Second World War, and left behind a terrible legacy of physical ruin and psychological devastation. Unfolding against the background of the end of cold war bipolarity, the new Balkan wars sounded a discordant counterpoint to efforts to construct a more harmonious European order, were a major embarrassment for the international institutions deemed responsible for conflict management, and became a preoccupation for the powers concerned with restoring regional stability. After more than a decade of intermittent hostilities the conflict has been contained, but only as a result of significant external interventions and the establishment of a series of de facto international protectorates, patrolled by UN, NATO, and EU sponsored peacekeepers with open-ended mandates.

Based on literature review and inputs from surveyed agencies, this book assesses the value and role of early warning for the prevention of violent conflict and identifies the most effective systems.

This volume is a collection of the best essays of Professor Benjamin Miller on the subjects of international and regional security. The book analyses the interrelationships between international politics and regional and national security, with a special focus on the sources of international conflict and collaboration and the causes of war and peace. More specifically, it explains the sources of intended and unintended great-power conflict and collaboration. The book also accounts for the sources of regional war and peace by developing the concept of the state-to-nation balance. Thus the volume is able to explain the variations in the outcomes of great power interventions and the differences in the level and type of war and peace in different eras and various parts of the world. For example, the book’s model can account for recent outcomes such as the effects of the 2003 American intervention in Iraq, the post-2011 Arab Spring and the conflicts between Russia and Ukraine. The book also provides a model for explaining the changes in American grand strategy with a special focus on accounting for the causes of the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Finally, the book addresses the debate on the future of war and peace in the 21st century. This book will be essential reading for students of international security, regional security, Middle Eastern politics, foreign policy and IR.

Everyday Life in the Balkans gathers the work of leading scholars across disciplines to provide a broad overview of the countries of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, and Turkey. This region has long been characterized as a place of instability and political turmoil, from World War I, through the Yugoslav Wars, and even today as debate continues over issues such as the influx of refugees or the expansion of the European Union. However, the work gathered here moves beyond the images of war and post-socialist stagnation which dominate Western media coverage of the region to instead focus on the lived experiences of the people in these countries. Contributors consider a wide range of issues including family dynamics, gay rights, war memory, religion, cinema, fashion, and politics. Using clear language and engaging examples, Everyday Life in the Balkans provides the background context necessary for an enlightened conversation about the policies, economics, and culture of the region.