Godišnjak Fakulteta bezbednosti (Jan 2018)
The Balkans at the turn of the century: From the epoch of war to European integration
Abstract
The Balkan Region was the scene of numerous conflicts throughout the 20th century. In the first half of the past century there were two Balkan and two World Wars in this region. The last decade of the 20th century was marked by the breakup of the SFR Yugoslavia, followed by ethnic conflicts in its former republics. In the area of the former Yugoslavia there were armed conflicts causing yet another set of unsolved international disputes. On the other hand, one cannot disregard the historical fact that the Balkan peoples have not only come into conflicts and make wars. They have also communicated and cooperated with each other, so the culture of mutual cooperation is deeply set into their identities. Nowadays, at the turn of the century, the Balkan states are characterised by the transition process and striving to re-establish or improve the regional cooperation. All Balkan states have the same aim - integration into the European Union. However, specific qualities of the Balkan region make the process of improving regional cooperation more difficult (ethnic tensions, xenophobia, low level of trust among the countries and underdeveloped economies). Certain theorists promote the idea that the Balkan peoples ought to search for the formula for modernization and development, mutual cooperation and integration, rather than common tendency to redesign the past.The precondition for reaching these goals is for the Balkans peoples to let go of harmful ideological doctrines of "blood and soil" and belief that problems can only be solved by violence.
