Major Conflicts after WWII and Attempts to make Peace-Racial Conflicts in the Balkans

1
Major Conflicts after WWII and Attempts to make
Peace-Racial Conflicts in the Balkans

• Ricardo K. S. Mak
• Hong Kong Baptist University

2
A Definition of Nation

• A nation contains at least two elements a
  culture and a political organization. Without a
  culture, a mass of people cannot develop into a
  coherent group. On the other side, an
  ill-organized cultural group is fragile
  (Kulturnation and Staatsnation, Friedrich
  Meinecke)

3
The Uneven Development of Culture and Political
Organization

• The culture and the political organization of a
  people seldom develop at the same speed. For
  instance, the German culture flowered in the 18th
  century, long before a German state was founded.
  On the other side, although the nation-state of
  France was built in the 12th century, the French
  people continued to search for their national
  identity in the next seven hundred years.

4
Nation Building

• Nation building means, thus, the creation of a
  national culture and /or a political form for a
  particular group of people. It is usually carried
  out by a national core group

5
A National Core Group has

• A common collective noun (French, Britons,
  Germans, etc.)
• A belief in a common ancestor
• a collective memory (great disaster, war, etc.
• a homeland or at least a belief in sharing a
  common homeland
• common cultural symbols (languages, feasts,
  flags, etc.)
• A coherent organization

6
Major Manifestations of Nation Building

• The Search for National Identity (Britain and
  France)
• National Unification (Italy and Germany)
• National Separatism (the Balkan States)
• Reformist Nationalism (Russia)

7
Facilitators of Nation-building

• Elite
• State power
• National education
• Mass media

8
Factors that determine interactions between
nations

• Realist considerations
• Mutual perceptions
• Traditions and historical factors
• Institutional constraints

9
Political Realism

• Interest and security
• Power
• Geopolitics
• Strengths
• Domestic political and economic needs
• Who, e.g. the USA, the EU or Russia would be more
  interested in the Balkans?

10
Mutual Perception

• Uncle Sam
• The polar bear
• The brutal Serbs

11
Historical and Ideological Factors

• Wars and conflicts
• Allies or foes
• Collaborators or competitors
• isms

12
Institutional Constraints

• Diplomatic pattern and consensus
• Treaties and conventions
• International laws
• International organizations

13
Basic Settings of the Ex- Yugoslavia in the late
1980s

• Racial Composition of Yugoslavia Serbs, Croats,
  Muslims, Albanians, etc
• The six republics and the Federation Bosnia and
  Herzegovina, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia,
  Montenegro and Macedonia
• The ruling structure long regime founded upon
  charismatic leaders and narrow-based elite
  (Romania, Bulgaria, etc., too)
• Command economy with emphasis on heavy industries

14
The Early 1990s

• The new election of 1990
• The birth of race-based politics
• The military and economic position of Serbia
• The dissolution of the Soviet economic system and
  its impacts on the Yugoslav successor states

15
EC (later EU), the USA and Russia

• ECs basic principle to preserve the
  pre-Yugoslavia and to give successor states more
  democracy
• ECs geopolitical considerations (priority to
  Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland)
• Helmut Sonnenfeldt, top aide of Kissenger, said
  in 1975, it ought actually to promote the
  preservation of the Soviet order.
• The Crisis in Iraq
• Gorbachevs Fate
• Britain, Italy and Germany

16
The Outburst in June 1991

• Both Slovenia and Croatia declared themselves
  independent states on June 25, 1991 and defeated
  the Yugoslavian Liberation Army
• The Serbs in Croatia (15 of the Croatian
  population), who were supported by Belgrade,
  reacted radically to the policy of a state for
  the Croats and war continued
• While the EC proposed a three-month freeze on
  implementation of their independence declarations
  so as to buy time for negotiation, a
  German-Italian initiative to deploy a Western
  European Unions force to separate the combatants
  was blocked by Britain

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The Tough Stand of the Croats

• The overrated Serbian Army
• The Peter Carrington Plan of a Federation of
  Yugoslav sovereign states, which was accepted by
  Serbia and Montenegro only
• The arm embargo that aimed at localizing the war
  hurt Croatia only
• The siege of Dubrovnik

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The Inner Contradiction of the Western Camp

• Washingtons opposition to a NATO peace-keeping
  mission
• The intensification of war
• The Battle of Vukovar
• Germanys initiative in December 1991 that forced
  the EC to follow
• Slovenia and Croatia were recognized by the EC on
  January 15, 1992

19
Powder Keg Bosnia

• The biggest republic with the most complicated
  population structure (17.3 Croats, 31.4 Serbs,
  43.7 Muslims and 5.5 Yugoslavs)
• Bosnian Serbs connection with Belgrade
• The Bosnian Muslims and the Muslim world
• Urban Bosnia vs. rural Bosnia
• Obstacles to the formation of a multi-cultural
  civic culture
• The founding of the Muslim-based SDA (Party of
  Democratic Action) and the Serb-based SDS
  (Serbian Democratic Party)

20
The First Confrontation

• The Bosnians asked for EC recognition in December
  1991
• The Bosnian Serb responded by setting up the Serb
  Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina on December 21,
  1991
• ECs cantonization plan in April 1992 and the
  outbreak of war on April 2, 1992

21
War and War Crime in Bosnia

• EC and the USA recognized the Bosnian Republic
• The Role of Slobodan Milosevic
• Serbian actions in Bosnia
• Ethnic Cleansing, ridding an area of a national
  group regarded as undesirable in order to create
  an ethnically homogeneous region.
• Mass rape and execution
• Four weeks after the outbreak of the war, 280,000
  people were made refugees

22
Western Response

• The arrival of the 36,000 UNPROFOR on June 8,
  1992
• A military or humanitarian issue?
• Election year in the USA
• Frances concern over its Muslim community
• Germany and Britain

23
Refugees A Problem that upset European Powers

• Geneva Conference July 1992
• London Conference August 1992
• Cyrus Vance and David Owen
• The USA, the United Nations and the Resolution
  827 that founded the International Tribunal for
  War Crimes
• Lord Carrington, Everyone is to blame for what
  is happening in Bosnia and as soon as we get a
  ceasefire there will be no need to blame
  anybody, They are all impossible peopleall as
  bad as each other.

24
1993 A Turning Point

• Bill Clintons presidency
• Britains calculation
• The Vance-Owen plan

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A Futile Plan that intensified Racial Conflicts

• Serbs in Bosnia rejected the plan
• Croats turned against Muslims
• The tragic fate of Mostar

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Clinton under Pressure

• The United States should take the lead in
  seeking United Nations Security Councils
  authorization for air strike against those who
  are attacking the relief effort. The United
  States should be prepared to lend appropriate
  military support to that operation.
• Clintons concerns
• Criticisms on the one side and the Vietnam
  syndrome on the other

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Continuous War and Continuous War Crimes

• The Siege of Sarajevo (April 1992 Feb., 1996)
• The rise of war gangster, The Ukrainians are the
  masters, trading in cigarettes, alcohol, cars,
  petrol and womenThe French specialize in wine,
  coca-cola, gold and sex.
• The war-hardened Bosnian Muslims fought back by
  organizing the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and
  Herzegovina
• The helpless UNPROFOR

28
More Complicated than ever

• The first NATO air strike on April 10, 1994
• Russia stepped in
• Bosnian Serbs stood in the way of another round
  of negotiation
• The growing difference between Europe and the USA
  
• Fortunately, the Muslim world did not involve much

29
The Making of the Dayton Agreement

• Continuous military confrontation in Bosnia
• The tough stand of the new NATO commander Rupert
  Smith
• Srebrenica Massacre on July 10, 1995
• Bills search for new success
• The Dayton Agreement on December 14,1995