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Balkanization

The breakup or division of a region ornation-stateinto smaller political, ethnic, or

religious units, often who share strong mutual animosities. The term derives from

the frequent disruption and modification ofboundariesin theshatterbeltof

southeastern Europe. It is an expression ofterritorialityand is often a violent pro-

cess. Balkanization of aregionmay be brought on bydevolutionandcentrifugal

forces, and has been a common phenomenon in the aftermath ofimperialism. This

is because the colonial powers ignored for the most part the multiple expressions of

cultural identityin the administrative regions they created and did not promote the

concept of a unified identity among the groups living in those regions. Indeed, in

many cases the formation of such an identity was actively discouraged by colonial

policy. Trends toward balkanization have been evident in Eurasia and Africa in

recent decades, as states that gained independence in the post–World War II era

struggled to solidify both their territorial integrity and their national identity.

The potential consequences of balkanization may be seen in the term’s origin.

“Balkanization” was first popularized as a geopolitical concept in the late 19th

century. At the Congress of Berlin in 1878, the major European powers established

a series of independent or semi-independent states in the region of the Balkan

Peninsula, all carved from lands previously controlled by the Ottoman Empire.

These included the Kingdoms of Serbia, Romania, and Montenegro, as well as a

Bulgarian state that was semi-independent. For the next several decades, the

region was beset by almost constant political conflict and border changes. The

states either fought one another in limited regional conflicts, as in the Serbo-

Bulgarian War in 1885; banded together to fight the Ottoman state in the form of

the Balkan League in the first Balkan War (1912); or fought a region-wide war

among themselves over territory, as in the second Balkan War (1913). Ultimately,

the tensions in the region and the resultant alliances would serve as the spark for

World War I, only a year after the second Balkan War concluded. Balkanization

came to signify the disintegration of any region into smaller states that are plagued

by seemingly intractable territorial and ethnic rivalries. Ironically, after almost

70 years as a unitary state, the balkanization of the Yugoslav state in the 1990s

presented a modern reminder of both the origin and the consequences of the term.

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