A Modern History of the Balkans: Nationalism and Identity in Southeast Europe

by Thanos Veremis

Overview

The history of the Balkans has been a distillation of the great and terrible themes of 20th century history-the rise of nationalism, communism, fascism, genocide, identity and war. Written by one of the leading historians of the region, this is a new interpretation of that history, focusing on the uses and legacies of nationalism in the Balkan region. In particular, Professor Veremis analyses the influence of the West-from the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the rise and collapse of Yugoslavia. Throughout the state-building process of Greece, Serbia, Rumania, Bulgaria and later, Albania, the West provided legal, administrative and political prototypes to areas bedevilled by competing irredentist claims. At a time when Slovenia, Rumania, Bulgaria and Croatia have become full members of the EU, yet some orphans of the Communist past are facing domestic difficulties, A Modern History of the Balkans seeks to provide an important historical context to the current problems of nationalism and identity in the Balkans.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781780768465
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	08/30/2017
Series:	Library of Balkan Studies
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	917,897
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.60(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Thanos Veremis is Professor of Political history at the University of Athens and also a Member of the Board of Directors of the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP); Director General of the International Center for Black Sea Studies (ICBSS); President of the National Council of Education; and on the Advisory Board of the European History Quarterly. He gained his PhD at Trinity College, Oxford and has been Visiting Professor at Princeton. He is the author of many books on the Balkan region, including Greece: The Modern Sequel (with John Koliopoulos, 2002) and The Balkans (2005)

Table of Contents

Preface vii

List of abbreviations ix

Part I The Balkans from the Nineteenth to the Twenty-first Century: the Building and Dismantling of Nation States

1 Perceptions and Misreadings 3

2 Common Elements in the State Formation of the Nineteenth Century 9

3 From the Nation Stale to the Stateless Nation 22

4 Albanians, South-Slavs and Bulgarians 32

5 Era of Ferment and Wars 37

6 The Interwar Conundrum 46

7 From War to Communism 58

8 The Balance of Forces in the Balkans 69

9 In Search of Multilateralism 77

10 Redefining Security: Yugoslavia 1989-95 85

Part II The Balkans in Comparative Perspective

9 Nationalism and Identity in the Balkans 95

12 The Economies 105

13 The Army in Politics 113

14 Western Amateurs and the End of History 129

Part III Unfinished Business

15 The Macedonian Question 1991-2010 141

16 Independence for Kosovo 153

17 Bosnia-Herzegovina: An Intractable Problem? 177

Epilogue: The Chances of Post-Modernity in the Balkans 182

Chronology 189

Notes 198

Further Reading 218

Index 221