The Return of History in the Balkans after the Cold War: International Efforts at Crisis Management and Conflict Resolution

The disintegration of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) constituted the tragic exception to the otherwise rapid and peaceful end of the Cold War that had divided Europe since 1945. The collapse of the Communist regimes in Eastern Europe and the withdrawal of the Soviet Union from its zone of influence caught even experts by surprise. Equally unexpected was the implosion of three states created not after the Second but already after the First World War: the Union of Soviet So..