[LINK] The Myth of Ethnic War
Sep. 13th, 2005 01:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rfmcdonaldOver at Transitions Online, Florian Bieber reviews V.P. Gagnon's recent The Myth of Ethnic War: Serbia and Croatia in the 1990s. Gagnon's argument is that nationalism was not the primary cause of the violent breakup of the former Yugoslavia. Rather, the question of how to divide Yugoslavia's economic and political resources was the real motivating factor, with nationalism merely tacked on to provide a less venal motive for the dispute.
This argument doesn't hold up entirely. Then again, it holds up enough. John Allcock, in his Explaining Yugoslavia (reviewed here), noted that Yugoslavia was unique among Communist countries in having a competitive economy from the 1970s on, but observed that, sadly, the competition was waged not by separate firms but by different republics.
This argument doesn't hold up entirely. Then again, it holds up enough. John Allcock, in his Explaining Yugoslavia (reviewed here), noted that Yugoslavia was unique among Communist countries in having a competitive economy from the 1970s on, but observed that, sadly, the competition was waged not by separate firms but by different republics.
