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Prologue to the Kosovo drama: causes and consequences of a violent ethno-political conflict

Arsovska, Jana
June 4, 2015

Source: (2008) In Ivo Aertsen, Jana Arsovska, Holger-C. Rohne, Marta Valinas, and Kris Vanspauwen ed., Restoring Justice after Large-scale Violent Conflicts. Devon, UK: Willan Publishing. Pp. 75-98.

“In the last 15 years newspapers have been incessantly writing about ethnically defined ‘nations’ and ‘culturally homogeneous’ people that claim the right to self-determination in a country of their own (Spencer 1998: 7). Some of these claimants have been perpetrating ‘ethnic cleansing’ campaigns and even genocide (Spencer 1998:7; Huttenback 2004: 24). During the 1980s and 1990s growing nationalism and rapid socio-political changes have led to the escalation of conflicts in the former Yugoslavia. Politicans from the different republics started arguing that ethnically homogeneous nations will progress much faster than multi-ethnic ones. According to their views, communicaiton between the people can be better enhanced within a single territory. As they pointed out, ethnic or – more broadly – cultural diversity leads to stagnation.” (abstract)

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