The last two decades of the 20th century witnessed a resurgence of
narrow geographical-political identities (a "Europe of Regions").
Countries - from the USSR to Italy to Belgium to Canada to Yugoslavia -
were gradually reduced to geopolitical atoms: provinces, districts,
regions, resurrected political units. Faced with the Yugoslav wars of
succession, the Big Powers again chose wrongly.
Instead of acknowledging the legitimate needs, concerns, and demands of
nations in the Balkan - they proclaimed two untenable principles:
borders must not change and populations must stay put. They dangled the
carrot of European Union membership as an inducement to peace. In other
words, even as virulent nationalism was erupting throughout the Balkan,
they promoted a REGIONAL set of principles and a REGIONAL inducement
(EU) instead of a nationalist orientated one. Yet, as opposed to the
past, the remaining Big Powers were unwilling to actively intervene to
enforce these principles. When they did intervene feebly, it was either
too late (Bosnia-Herzegovina, 1995), too one-sidedly (Kosovo, 1999), or
too hesitantly (Macedonia, 2001). They clearly lacked commitment and
conviction, or even the military ability to become the guardians of
this new order.
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