Description: The violence following the break-up of the former Yugoslavia has lasted for more than a decade and continues to mark the region. This 2006 volume analyses the causes of the conflict and describes its course from the onset of war in Croatia to intervention in Kosovo. The book concentrates on four key transformations: the demise of Yugoslavia and the creation of new states; the importance of nationalist ideologies in the preparation of war and their subsequent decline in the post conflict era; the role of international actors as policy makers, implementing agencies, and arbiters; and the process of democratization and integration into European structures. With contributions from some of the world's leading scholars of the Balkans and personal accounts from journalists, diplomats, and civil servants drawing upon their own experiences of war and transition, War and Change in the Balkans provides an unparalleled insight into contemporary European history.
Brief description: Brad K. Blitz received his PhD from Stanford University and is currently Reader in Political Geography at Oxford Brookes University. He has written extensively on the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia and has taught causes in international and comparative politics, refugee and migration studies at Stanford University, the University of California Santa Cruz, Middlesex University, Roehampton University and Oxford Brookes University.
Review Quotes: "An impressive collection of essays that provides valuable insight into the forces of change that have buffeted the former Yugoslavia since the end of the Cold War. Blitz has brought together in a single volume some of the world's leading scholars, journalists and diplomats to produce an excellent guide to this troubled region."
-Richard Caplan, Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford and author of Europe and the Recognition of New States in Yugoslavia