Heading off War in the Southern Balkans

Bibliographic Data

ID3403016
AuthorsMisha Glenny (corresponding author)
Year1995
Volume74
Issue3
Pages98
Publication date1995-01-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueForeign Affairs (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0015-7120 • E-ISSN: 2327-7793
PublisherJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/20047126
OpenAlexW2561913676
LanguageEN
Citations received6

IN T h E month prior to late June 1991, when war engulfed the former Yugoslavia, the presidents of two constituent republics, Alija Izetbe govic of Bosnia and Kiro Gligorov of Macedonia, spared no effort try ing to close the widening chasm between Serbia and Croatia. Both men understood that in the event of armed conflict their republics could be the bloodiest theaters of war. Bosnia was especially threatened because it formed a wedge between Serbs and Croats as they attempted to establish the borders of their new nation-states by force. Macedonia, so far, has escaped the horrors that its twin, Bosnia, has suffered. Yet if war continues in the northern Balkans, a gradual destabilization of Macedonia is almost certain to magnify the threat to its existence and to the wider security of the southern Balkan region. Even with relative peace in the northern Balkans, the tensions between ethnic Albanians and Macedonians make for a fragile state. The political problems facing Macedonia are remarkably similar to those that destroyed Bosnia. Throughout the Cold War, both republics depended on the Yugoslav federation to ward off the terri torial claims of their more powerful neighbors. The majority popu lations of Bosnia and Macedonia are relative newcomers to the Balkan drama. The Muslim and Slavic Macedonians have assumed

Ancient history · Development economics · Economic history · Economics · Geodesy · Geography · Heading (navigation) · Political science · Spanish Civil War · Balkans: History, Politics, Society · History · Law

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