Western Intervention in the Balkans The Strategic Use of Emotion in Conflict [Paperback]

This book examines the strategic use of emotion in the conflicts and interventions occurring in the Western Balkans over a twenty-year period.This book integrates three different elements: 1) a theory of how political actors use emotions  fear, anger, resentment, contempt, hatred  as resources in conflict; 2) a history of ethnic conflict in the former Yugoslavia over the past twenty years; and 3) a study of Western, primarily U.S., intervention practices. It is the first book to treat emotions as resources systematically. The book is one of the most comprehensive and recent histories of the wars following the collapse of Yugoslavia. It criticizes U.S. intervention policy as being overly reliant on a carrot-and-stick approach.This book integrates three different elements: 1) a theory of how political actors use emotions  fear, anger, resentment, contempt, hatred  as resources in conflict; 2) a history of ethnic conflict in the former Yugoslavia over the past twenty years; and 3) a study of Western, primarily U.S., intervention practices. It is the first book to treat emotions as resources systematically. The book is one of the most comprehensive and recent histories of the wars following the collapse of Yugoslavia. It criticizes U.S. intervention policy as being overly reliant on a carrot-and-stick approach.Conflicts involve powerful experiences. The residue of these experiences is captured by the concept and language of emotion. Indiscriminate killing creates fear; targeted violence produces anger and a desire for vengeance; political status reversals spawn resentment; cultural prejudices sustain ethnic contempt. These emotions can become resources for political entrepreneurs. A broad range of Western interventions are based on a view of human nature as narrowly rational. Correspondingly, intervention policy generally aims to alter material incentives (sticks and carrots) to influence behavior. In response, poorer and weaker actors who wish to block or chalsð