The Balkans

The violent chaos and human tragedies in Bosnia and Kosovo commonly have been attributed to "centuries old religious and ethnic hatreds", "the legacy of Islamic Ottoman domination", "communist dictatorial traditions", "new nationalism" and "economic inequalities". This volume dispels such explanations as either historical or misleading generalities. By surveying the history of human group identity in the Balkans within the context of political cultures created by three civilizations - Orthodox Eastern European, Islamic, and Western European - during the past 15 centuries, Dennis Hupchick demonstrates that the roots of the turmoil lie in the historically recent disruptive impact of Western nationalist concepts on two traditionally national civilized societies.