Contested Nationalism Serb Elite Rivalry in Croatia and Bosnia in the 1990s [Hardcover]

Only unity saves the Serbs is the famous call for unity in the Serb nationalist doctrine. But even though this doctrine was ideologically adhered to by most of the Serb leaders in Croatia and Bosnia, disunity characterized Serb politics during the Yugoslav disintegration and war. Nationalism was contested and nationalist claims to homogeneity did not reflect the reality of Serb politics. This book provides a comprehensive analysis of Serb politics and challenges widespread assumptions regarding the Yugoslav conflict and war. It finds that although Slobodan Milosevic played a highly significant role, he was not always able to control the local Serb leaders. Moreover, it adds to the emerging evidence of the lack of importance of popular attitudes; hardline dominance was generally based on the control of economic and coercive resources rather than on elites successfully playing the ethnic card. It moves beyond an assumption of automatic ethnic outbidding and thus contributes toward a better understanding of intra-ethnic rivalry in other cases such as Israel/Palestine, Northern Ireland, Nagorno-Karabakh and Rwanda.

Nina Caspersenis a Lecturer in Peace and Conflict Studies.

List of Figures and Tables
List of Abbreviations
Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter 1.Ethnic Elites and Internal Competition
Chapter 2.Conflict and War in Croatia and Bosnia
Chapter 3.Prewar Croatia: Ethnification and Radicalization
Chapter 4.Prewar Bosnia: Cohesive, Radicalizing Nationalists
Chapter 5.Wartime Croatia: Disunity Did Not Save the Serbs
Chapter 6.Wartime Bosnia: Divided We Stand
Chapter 7.Warlords, Spoilers and Moderates
Chapter 8.Conclusion: Contested Nationalism

References
Index

This book is based on a profound and detailed analylÃ#