Nationalism, History and Identity in the Balkans: An Overview of Recent Histories of Europe's South-East

Abstract

Review Article Nationalism,HistoryandIdentityin theBalkans: An Overviewof Recent Historiesof Europe's South-East DEJAN DJOKIC Benson, Leslie. rugoslavia. A Concise History.Palgrave,Basingstokeand London, 2001. XXX + 20 I pp. Maps. Glossary. Chronology. Notes. Bibliography.Index. 1i6.99. Biondich, Mark. Stjepan Radic,theCroat Peasant Party,andthePoliticsof Mass Mobilization, I904-1928. University of Toronto Press, Toronto, Buffalo, NY, and London, 2000. xi+ 344 pp. Notes. Bibliography.Index. [40.00;[i6.oo. Crampton, R. J. 7The BalkansSincetheSecondWorldWar.Longman/ Pearson, London and New York, 2002. xxxiv + 374 pp. Maps. Tables. Notes. Bibliography.Index. [i 6.99 (paperback). Mazower, Mark. TheBalkans. From theEndofByzantium tothePresent Day. Phoenix Press,London, 2002 (thirdimpression;firstpublishedby Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2000). XVi+ 176 pp. Maps. Chronology. Guide to furtherreading.Notes. Index. [6.99 (paperback). Pavlowitch, Stevan K. A History oftheBalkans, i804-1945. Longman/ Pearson, London and New York, I Viii? 375 pp. Maps. Glossary. Guide to further reading. Notes. Index. [i6.99 (paperback). Pavlowitch, Stevan K. Serbia:TheHistory Behind theName.Hurst & Co., London, 2002. Xii + 252 pp. Notes. Bibliography. Index. CI4.95 (paperback). IF Europe's nineteenth century was marked by the formation of modern nations, the twentieth century could be describedas an era of theirattempteddestruction.Greatachievementsin the fieldsof human and minority rights and an unprecedented revolution in science, medicine and computer technology cannot be separated, when one looks back at the last century, from conflicts which aimed to kill or expel those belonging to a 'wrong'nation and/or ideology. Millions of innocent civilians died and an equally horrifying number of people were forced to migrate, forever changing the ethnic map of the Dejan Djokic is Lecturerin ContemporaryHistory at BirkbeckCollege, Universityof London. His edited book Yugoslavism: Historiesof a FailedIdea, I9I8-I992 is published by Hurst & Co. (London) and University of Wisconsin Press (Madison, WI), 2003. 512 RECENT HISTORIES OF EUROPE S SOUTH-EAST continent. Wars, revolutionsand ideological conflictswere part of the history of most of Europe at one point or another during the short twentieth century, whose 'legacy' has enriched modern vocabularies with terms such as 'genocide', 'holocaust', 'population transfers',and 'ethnic cleansing'. Yet, there is a popular tendency in the West to associateEurope's'darkside'almostexclusivelywith its South-East. In the political and popular discourse in both the West and the region itself, the term 'Balkans',increasinglyhidden behind its more acceptable pseudonym 'South-Eastern Europe', usually implies the place of recurrentcivilwars,political assassinations,'ethnic cleansing', 'ancient ethnic and/or religious hatreds'. 'To Balkanize' means, according to all major dictionaries and thesauri, to divide into a number of small, mutually hostile units. No wonder then that the Balkanpeoples themselvesdo not wish to be in the Balkans,preferring instead to escape to 'South-Eastern'or 'Central' Europe, if 'Europe' itselfremainsan aspiration. Like 'CentralEurope', the Balkansis much more of a political than a geographical construct. Unlike 'Central Europe', however, no one wants to be associatedwith it. It is temptingto suggestthat the Balkans actuallydoes not exist,because it isusuallyclaimedthatit is somewhere else; even its most central regions tend to protest against being describedas Balkan Bulgarianairlinesnotwithstanding.'As Stevan Pavlowitch writes in the concluding chapter of his excellent, and inexplicablyoverlookedby reviewers,historyof the Balkans: Somepartsof thepeninsulaaresaidto be Mediterranean (ifnot actually north Atlantic), or Latin (hence virtually western European), or central European (and woe to anyone who dares hint at the Balkans there), or Alpine (if not actually Austrian) [. .] That leaves only the dregs who are stuck 'in the Balkans' because they are no longer 'in Europe' [ . .] The toponym easilybecomes an insult,meaning non-Europe or the darkside of Europe.2 Several years ago a festival of'Central European culture', held in London and organized by the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, included works of Bosnian artists (presumably because Bosnia-Herzegovina was part of the Habsburg Empire between I878 and I9 I8), while in November 2002 the Central European Initiative held its summit in Skopje, the capital of Macedonia (CEI, which started as Quadrilateral Co-operation, founded in I989 by Austria, Hungary, Italy and Yugoslavia, now includes, among other countries, Albania, Bulgaria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and even Belarus). A recent trend in Serbia has been to use the term 'western Balkans', with an emphasis on 'western'. Greeks often speak of 'Greece and the Balkans', while many Romanians prefer to see...