380 SEER, 8i, 2, 2003 Cohen's assessmentof theproblematicconsolidationof Serbia'sOctober 2000 'revolution', its continuing economic difficulties and its still unresolved 'nationalquestion'realisticallyindicatesthatthe roadto recoveryand stability willbe long and arduous.The new Serbianauthorities'reluctanceto genuinely confrontthe recent past, aswell as the ICTY prosecution'sflawedhandling of Milosevic's trial, bode poorly for Serbia's prospects of overcoming the devastating legacy of his regime. Finally, Cohen's critique of the Western powers' oversimplifiedperceptions of Yugoslaviaand their policy oscillations provides an important reminder that international intervention in areas of ethnic conflict needs to be based not only on a thorough knowledge of the region, but also on the recognition that sustainable value change and democratic institution-buildingtake time and cannot be imposed from the outside. Centrefor South-East European Studies JASNA DRAGOVIC-SOSO School ofSlavonic andEastEuropean Studies University College London Popov, Nebojsa (ed.) 7he Roadto Warin Serbia.Trauma andCatharsis. Central EuropeanUniversityPress,Budapest,2000. 7I I pp. Notes. Bibliography. Index. fI 7.95 (paperback). As war ragedin Bosnia in the I 99os, a handfulof Belgradeintellectualsled by the sociologist Neboj'saPopov devoted themselves to analysing the wave of nationalismthathad engulfedSerbiasincethe mid-I98os andhad contributed to the outbreak of violence. In I994 and 1995, Popov's journal Republika published these studies as a seriesof articles,which were subsequentlyunited in a single volume under the title 'the Serbian side of the war' (Srpska strana rata, Belgrade, I996). Now this volume has been translated into several languages, includingthe presentEnglishedition. The original aim of these articles was to stimulate public discussion in Serbia about the role of the republic'scultural,political and social institutions in the production of nationalist hatred. It was not successful:the institutions under question refused any dialogue on their own responsibility,while state propaganda drowned out the voice of anti-regime and anti-nationalist intellectuals. Nevertheless, both the Republika articles and the book had a considerable impact abroad, becoming essential reading for all SerboCroatian -speaking scholars seeking to explain Yugoslavia's tragedy. Consideringboth the high quality of the contributionsand the utility of the book for classroom use, the English-languageedition is long overdue (although, it must be said, the translationis cumbersome and at times needed to be read in parallelto the originalto convey the authors'meaning). The book provides a multi-faceted overview of the rise of contemporary Serbiannationalism:the deeper historicaland ideological causes,the traumas related to the Second WorldWar, the structuraland constitutionalaspectsof socialistYugoslavia'sevolution, the role of agency political, intellectualand the media and, finally,also a chapter on the internationalcommunity and the Yugoslavcrisis.Vesna Pesic, the author of the introductorychapter and a REVIEWS 38I well-known member of Serbia's former opposition, argues that although Yugoslavia's disintegration was a long-term process, the violence that accompanied it needs to be understood as a separate phenomenon resulting from the presence of a particularly virulent kind of nationalism. The subsequent chapters examine this nationalism'smanipulation of various real and imagined Serbian'traumas',fromthe massexterminationof Serbsduring the Second World War to the more debatable allegations of unequal status and economic subjugationin the post-I945 Yugoslavfederation. In explaining the potency of nationalism as a widespread social phenomenon ,particularly usefulareIvanColovic'sanalysis ofcontemporary popular culture,NebojsaPopov'sexaminationof the glorification of warin socialist Yugoslavia andSretenVujovicshighlighting ofnationalist distrust ofthecity. LatinkaPerovic'sstudyof anti-modernism in Serbianpoliticalthoughtand Olga Zirojevic'schapteron the Kosovo mythprovideapt illustrations of deeperhistoricaltrendsin Serbiansociety.The bookis alsoverystrongin assessing theroleoftheSerbianChurchandcultural institutions (theWriters' Association, theAcademyofSciencesandtheuniversity) intheproduction of nationalistideology.DrinkaGojkovic's studyof how nationalism prevailed over the democraticcomponentsof the Serbianintelligentsia's activism touchesupona crucialthemethathasnotbeenadequately examinedin the existingliterature. Similarly, MarinaBlagojevic's chapteron the emigration of the Kosovo Serbsin the I970Sand I98osprovidesinsightinto a key mobilizingforcefor Serbiannationalism whichhas not receivedsufficient attention inexistingEnglish-language accountsofYugoslavia's disintegration, despitetheprominenceusuallyattributed to Kosovo.Morefamiliararethe analyses ofSerbianpoliticsandmedia,althoughheretootheauthors provide detailedand usefulaccounts(particularly strongis DubravkaStojanovic's 'TheTraumatic CircleoftheSerbianOpposition', whichhighlights thefailure of the politicaloppositionin draftingan alternative nationalprogramme in theearlyI990s). The limitationsof thisbooklie in its authors'self-conscious decision,as Serbs,to focusexclusivelyon the 'Serbiansideof the war'(althoughupon closerinspectionsome authorsdepartfrom this maxim OliveraMilosavljevic thusprovides anexcellentanalysis oftheconcurrent 'anti-Yugoslavist' trendscontainedin the SerbianAcademy'sdraft'Memorandum' and the Slovenianintellectuals' journalNovaRevja). As NebojsaPopovnotesin the introduction, 'theideawasthatthroughdialogueon theresultsthatemerged [inthisstudy],anunderstanding ofallsides ofthewar wouldgradually arise'(p. 2, Popov'semphasis). Unfortunately, no equivalent hasyet emergedforanyof the 'othersidesof the war'and...