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This definitive "insider's view" of the Statute and itsRules of Procedure and Evidence takes into account existinginternational law and practice, the proposals submitted by states andorganizations, and the views expressed by members of the SecurityCouncil in adopting the Statute. The text also places theInternational Tribunal in its historical context as the firstinternational criminal tribunal created since the 1945 Nuremberg andTokyo Tribunals, and as a major achievement in the UN's long-standingproject of an international regime of criminal law. ... Read more

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Yugoslavia as History is the first book to examine the bloody demise of the former Yugoslavia in the full light of its history. This new edition of John Lampe's accessible and authoritative history devotes a full new chapter to the tragic ethnic wars that have followed the dissolution of Yugoslavia, first in Croatia and Bosnia, and most recently in Kosovo. John Lampe concentrates on the connection, real and imagined, between these conflicts and the experience of the successor states, the two Yugoslavias and their predecessors. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

An economic historian's perspective
Although this is a general history of Yugoslavia, from ancient times up to 1992, the analysis reflects the fact that Lampe is first and foremost an economic historian.

A commendable survey
Lampe's "Yugoslavia as History" is probably the first book that deals with the entire history of Yugoslavia from its inception in 1918 to its collapse in 1991. While discussing pre-1918 developments and (very summarily) post-1991 events, he focuses his discussion on Yugoslavia as it actually existed, doing a commendable job of viewing past events on their own terms rather than through the prism of present-day events (the primary flaw of many recent historical works written both by former Yugoslav and outside scholars, commentators, etc.). Lampe's primary expertise is economic history, and this is evident in his strong analysis of Yugoslavia's frequent economic problems, which would be a crucial factor in the country's eventual downfall. However, this means he often gives short shrift to the cultural, social and intellectual antagonisms which gave expression to the country's underlying problems. Also, while socialist Yugoslavia's decentralized political structure did foment the development of separate economic, social and intellectual cultures, there were also many factors that bound Yugoslav citizens and did create a some sense of community (he only touches on sports and film, but almost completely ignores literature and pop music). Indeed, this appearance of a rudimentary common culture was what made Yugoslavia's violent breakdown so shocking to people in the county itself and to outside experts. Even so, "Yugoslavia as History" is a very strong survey of the country's troubled history and a very useful resource for students and others - it is much, much better and more informative than the many "instant histories" (a term I think Lampe himself used in a journal article) which appeared in droves once Yugoslavia did break up and the war started. The book is also, by the way, a very good reflection and summary of the main streams of American historiography on the former Yugoslavia.

weak in some areas
while john r. lampe's book is accurate and very readable, Iwould still like to point out some problems. the main one is, that theauthor deals with slovenians and macedonians very briefly, more like an afterthought. as a slovenian, I may feel a bit strongly about it, but I would like to give two examples: there is no mention of the isonzo front (first world war, between italy and austro-hungary), which went on for twelve battles and has its own novel (and film) - farwell to arms. also, the ossimo accords, which finalized the border between yugoslavia (now slovenia) and italy are not mentioned -and they are important, since italy used them to present all sorts of obstacles to slovenia after 1991.the book is still very much worth reading, but keep in mind that the slovenians (and I imagine the macedonians) are not given the adequate space. read something else as well!

reliable, beautifully written - a true diamond
It happens so rarely that one gets so completely excited by a history book, especially if, as is the case with Lampe's work, it covers such a broad time-period in such a relatively small and, with the sad exception ofthe last ten years, un-known country. Lampe has succeeded in what manyscholars of the region of the former Yugoslavia have failed: to provide anauthoritative, well-argumented, and clear case for the bloody demise of thecountry. He is one of the few who doesn't fall into the trap of playing theprejudicial and rascist songs about Balkans being the cradle of terrorismand bloodshed - rather, he traces the demise of the country through almostone hundred years of its existence, showing when and why Yugoslavia was tothe benefits of the nations living there, and when its existence rancontrary to the wishes of its founding fathers. Lampe has a sharp eye of anobserver who has witnessed a tragedy with his heart and yet knows how tolook for answers and explanations using his head. I can only warmlyrecommend this book to anyone who really wants to get a taste of thisunhappy region, to all students of the Balkans, or people merely interestedin "what it was all about". This is a real diamond in a decadewhich has seen a wave of books dealing with the former Yugoslavia, most ofwhich have left me flabbergasted and stupified by their style and myopic(to say the least) ideas they promoted. ... Read more

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Impossible Histories is the first critical survey of the extraordinary experiments in the arts that took place in the former Yugoslavia from the country's founding in 1918 to its breakup in 1991. The combination of Austro-Hungarian, French, German, Italian, and Turkish influences gave Yugoslavia's avant-gardes a distinct character unlike those of other Eastern and Central European avant-gardes. Censorship and suppression kept much of the work far from the eyes and ears of the Yugoslav people, while language barriers and the inaccessibility of archives caused it to remain largely unknown to Western scholars. Even at this late stage in the scholarly investigation of the avant-garde, few Westerners have heard of the movements Belgrade surrealism, signalism, Yugo-Dada, and zenitism; the groups Alfa, Exat 51, Gorgona, OHO, and Scipion Nasice Sisters Theater; or the magazines Danas, Red Pilot, Tank, Vecnost, and Zvrk.

The pieces in this collection offer comparative and interpretive accounts of the avant-gardes in the former Yugoslavian countries of Croatia, Serbia, and Slovenia. The book is divided into four sections: Art and Politics; Literature; Visual Art and Architecture; and Art in Motion (covering theater, dance, music, film, and video). All of the contributors live in the region and many of them participated in the movements discussed. The book also reprints a selection of the most important manifestos generated by all phases of Yugoslav avant-garde activity. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Terrificbook!
Impossible Histories is a terrific collection of essays bringing together information on the Yugoslav avant-gardes that has never been available in any language in one place before. The essays consider the avant-gardes in film, photography and video, avant-garde music and rock, and they topics ranging from conceptual art and Laibach back to the earliest Barbarageniuses such as Ljubomir Micic, Avgust Cernigoj, Branko Ve Poljanski and Srecko Kosovel. The book brings together amazing material in its illustrations and manifestoes. Highly recommended! ... Read more

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Yugoslavia: A Concise History surveys the whole turbulent course of the country's history, in the context of the struggles between great powers for control of the Balkans. Torn apart by nationalist rivalries, the first Yugoslavia lapsed into paralysis and dictatorship. Axis occupation in 1941 unleashed a murderous civil war, in which the Communist Party emerged victorious. Tito's Yugoslavia appeared to the world as a peaceful, multi-national federation, but in the end disintegrated amid barbarism unknown in Europe for half a century. This revised and fully updated edition explains why, and takes the events up to the arrest of Milosevic in 2001and beyond.
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Customer Reviews (3)

Difficult book to read and understand
I want it to read this book for my upcoming trip to Croatia,Slovenia and Montenegro, unfortunately this book was very hard to read and i was dissapointed.Seems to me the author is not interested in simplyfying an already delicate subject.The way he explains the problems in former Yugoslavia is very arcane and rough.The author doesnt explain the terms and political mindset of many of the participants involved.He just tells the story as it is without pausing to think if the reader is aware of the facts he is relating.In other words he's approach is: i am telling the story so shut up and listen.Very poor work

Seeking to the reveal roots of bitter clashes and struggles
Leslie Benson is the Senior Lecturer of Politics and Sociology at University College Northampton, United Kingdom. In Yugoslavia: A Concise History, Professor Benson provides his readers with a straightforward, meticulously researched, and informatively narrated historical study of the fierce ethnic rivalries that have hallmarked the Balkans and frequently erupted into horrific episodes of militant barbarism and the kinds of "ethnic cleansing" atrocities that shocked late twentieth century Europe and America. A thorough examination seeking to the reveal roots of bitter clashes and struggles, Yugoslavia: A Concise History is especially recommended introductory reading for non-specialist general readers with an interest in Yugoslavian history and acquiring a basic understanding of the historical background to the contemporary antagonisms that have so scarred the peoples and territories that once comprised the multi-ethnic nation of Yugoslavia.

A very good book on a complicated subject
The history of the area known as Yugoslavia is so complicated that the average person will throw up his hands in trying to understand the reasons for Milosevic's ethnic cleansing, NATO's 1999 air strikes against Kosovo and Serbia and the uneasy peace today. As the Ottoman Empire began to crumble, various elements saw their opportunity to hasten the Ottoman withdrawal and grab land and power. The turning point came in October 1912 when Montenegro declared war on Turkey, with the Serbs crushing an Ottoman army in a massed battle at Kumanovo in Northern Macedonia and taking Kosovo. A policy of terror designed to alter the ethnic composition of Kosovo and strengthen Serbia's claims to the province followed, leading to the massacre of about 20,000 Kosovar Albanians followed by torture, maiming, and forced conversions. In May 1913 Serbia and Greece, supported by Montenegro and Romania defeated Bulgaria; Serbian nationalist fervor boiled over as Old Serbia had been recovered, the battle of Kosovo was avenged and the Turk routed. On 28 June 1914 the Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo by a Bosnian Serb; Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia triggering World War I in which 40% of the Serb armed forces and 25% of the total Serb population perished. Serbia was too weak to claim a seat at the diplomatic table when the secret 1915 Treaty of London gave Serbia Bosnia-Herzegovina and a portion of southern Dalmatia where there was a concentration of Orthodox Christians. The abdication of the Russian Tzar in February 1917 robbed Serbia of its most powerful support. Following the war, seven treaties settled various territorial claims, Albania became an Italian protectorate, the Kosova Albanians revolted against Serbian rule, the Yugoslav Communist Party was formed, Tito returned from Russia where he had been a prisoner of war exposed to ideas and methods of the October Revolution, intrigue abounded everywhere jousting for power or justice, anarchy and murder ruled, people profiteered while others went hungry.Drained of blood and treasure, Serbia struggled to make good its claims against hostile Italian diplomacy while trying to integrate minorities none of which welcomed rule from Belgrade. The communists gained power in local elections and 16 parties were represented in the 1920 elections to choose a constituent assembly. The electoral success of the Communist party with an appeal well beyond the numerically tiny working class, exceeded the worst fears in government circles. "The kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes could hardly have got off to a worse start. Of the three founder-peoples, two were recalcitrant joiners. Now a rump 'Serbia' Assembly had passed a law giving apparently limitless power to the executive. The scene was set for two decades of political paralysis, which ended (when it was too late to make any difference) with the partitioning of the state and the outbreak of Hitler's war in the Balkans."

Hitler's plans entailed picking off one by one the states created by the Versailles Treaty and Yugoslavia drifted into the Axis sphere of influence. It was the Kosovar Albanians who caught the full force of racial bigotry that surfaced during the 1930s, resulting in murder, dispossession of lands and cultural oppression with the intention of removing them altogether. In 1935 Turkey offered to accept 200,000 Muslims from Kosovo. The communists, many of whom were revolutionaries in the Lenin mould, veterans of the civil war in Spain and with experience of prison and police brutality had their chance to form a formidable clandestine organization. The government was overthrown by a coup in April 1941and in retaliation, the Luftwaffe reduce Belgrade to rubble. In the turmoil of World War II, guerilla war and civil war, the communists gained power, but Tito's regional ambitions had no place in Moscow's plans, leading to the 1948 expulsion of the Yugoslavian Communist Party. Tito's death in May 1980 unleashed inflation, the party's hold on a discontented population weakened and old enmities reemerged. In 1987 Milosevic became effectively ruler of the republic, setting in motion an ugly tide of anti-Muslim sentiments on the 600th anniversary of Kosovo Field in June 1989.

The final chapter 'Back to Kumanovo' tells how the second Yugoslavia slowly expired following the fall of communism, the Milosevic years of ethnic cleansing, the 78 days of NATO bombing and Milosevic's arrest in April 2001 and warns that: "It does not seem even remotely possible that the Kosovars will accept for ever their present found constitutional status as an integral part of Serbia" and "Finally, but by no means least, the settlement in Bosnia-Herzegovina is coming apart at the seams, as most people always thought it would" and " However, the domestic politics of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia may be entering another phase of turmoil" and "In Macedonia, Bosnia and Kosovo the Balkan crisis continues."

Huntington tells us in 'The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of the World Order' that clashes between civilizations are the greatest threat to world peace; that since the end of the Cold War people define themselves by blood, belief, faith and family - ancestry, language, religion, history, values, institutions, tribes, ethnic groups and customs - rather than by nation, ideologies and economics; that the hotspots are on the fault lines between civilizations; that Bosnia was a war of civilizations with Russia providing diplomatic support to the Serbs while Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran and Libya provided funds and arms to the Bosnians; that the philosophical assumptions, underlying values, social relations, customs and overall outlooks on life differ significantly among civilizations, reinforced by the revitalization of religion. The problems in this area of the world are extremely complicated but they will not just go away. Understanding the history of Yugoslavia is the first step and Benson has done an outstanding job in presenting the facts in an unbiased manner for which we should be very appreciative. ... Read more

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At the end of the 20th century, interregional conflicts in the former Yugoslavia culminated with Slobodon Miloßevic's campaign of ethnic cleansing, which led to NATO intervention and ultimately revolution. What ignited these conflicts? What can we learn from them about introducing democracy in multiethnic regions? What does the future hold for the region?

To answer these questions, this timely volume examines the ethnic history of the former Yugoslavia. From the settlement of the South Slavs in the 6th century to the present—paying special attention to the post-World War II era, the crisis and democratization in the 1980s, and the disintegration of the country in the early 1990s. This comprehensive single volume traces the bloody history of the region through to the fragile alliances of its present-day countries.

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This work examines the criteria of "practicality" and feasibility of UN mandates to a civil war-like conflict. The accumulated knowledge of UN personnel is utilized in order to identify the secrets of political and operational success or failure and it provides insights by offering "practicability tests" of public demands and mandates for peace-keeping. In particular, the editors reveal the dramatic inadequacy of actions, decisions and support to the UN operation by major international players. ... Read more

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This new series provides a thorough account of 20th Century conflicts, whilst supplying more than just a straightforward narrative. Each book tackles a different conflict and examines the effect on ordinary people, provides biographies of the leading figures involved and examines media coverage. Includes: - photos and maps - timeline - glossary and index - other resources such as web sites, contact details of organisations, list of further reading. ... Read more

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Portraying the events of the 1990s in former Yugoslavia, this book studies the war from the differing perspectives of Slovenes, Croats, Serbs, Muslims, political leaders, soldiers, civilians, aid workers, and international news reporters. ... Read more

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On 25 May 1993 the United Nations Security Council took the extraordinary and unprecedented step of deciding to establish the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) as a mechanism for the restoration and maintenance of international peace and security.This was an extremely significant innovation in the use of mandatory enforcement powers by the Security Council, and the manifestation of an explicit link between peace and justice --politics and law.

The establishment of ad hoc tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda was followed by the adoption of the Rome Statute of the ICC in July 1998, the arrest of General Augusto Pinochet in London in October 1998, and the establishment of ad hoc tribunals in Cambodia, Sierra Leone, and East Timor, all of which pointed to an emerging norm of international criminal justice.The key to understanding this is the relationship between the political mandate and the judicial function. The Tribunal was established as a tool of politics, but it was a judicial, not a political tool.

This book provides a systematic examination of the Tribunal, what it is, why it was established, how it functions, and where its significance lies.The central question is whether an international judicial institution, such as the Tribunal, can operate in a highly politicized context and fulfill an explicit political purpose, without the judicial process becoming politicized. Separate chapters chart the origins of the court, the process of establishment, jurisdiction, procedure, state co-operation, including obtaining custody of accused, and the role and function of the Chief Prosecutor. This last element is the key to the Tribunal's success in maintaining a delicate balancing act so that its external political function does not impinge on its impartial judicial status, and instead enhances its effectiveness.The book concludes with an assessment of the conduct of the Milosevic case to date.

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Completely updated and revised from the original German edition, Yugoslavia is the definitive history of the troubled region. Focusing primarily on the 80s and 90s, Viktor Meier covers the disintegration and collapse of Yugoslavia. Meier discusses all regions of Yugoslavia, clearly illuminating a complex history filled with competing parties, factions, religions and cultures. One of the few books to offer a view other than Belgrade, this study is extraordinary in range, drawing on federal and republican archives that will not be open for some time. ... Read more

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From the end of the 1980s and beginning of the 1990s onwards,the world's attention has been occupied with the events whicheventually led to the dissolution of the Socialist Federal Republic ofYugoslavia and to the creation of five independent and sovereignstates. Apart from the humanitarian disaster and the devastated economies ofthe countries created on the territory of the former Yugoslavia, itbrought some important issues of international law to the forefront,and provided the impetus for some new and rapid developments. The book is an epilogue to the first, very successful, collectionYugoslavia through Documents: from its creation to itsdissolution, published by Martinus Nijhoff Publishers in 1994.However, because of the complexity of the issues in the political,military, humanitarian and legal fields, its structure is different.The book is divided into an Introduction and nine Parts, each of themdealing with specific issues and containing, where appropriate, theEditor's note, comment or additional information. These two volumes constitute an absolutely essential collection forall research libraries. ... Read more

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In 1991, an ethnically diverse region that had enjoyed decades of peaceful coexistence descended into bitter hatred and chaos, almost overnight. Communities fractured along lines of ethnic and religious affiliation and the ensuing fighting was deeply personal, resulting in brutality, rape and torture, and ultimately the deaths of thousands of people. This book examines the internal upheavals of the former Yugoslavia and their international implications, including the failure of the Vance-Owen plan; the first use of NATO in a combat role and in peace enforcement; and the war in Kosovo, unsanctioned by the UN but prosecuted by NATO forces to prevent the ethnic cleansing of the region. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A good summary
This book is an introduction to the Yugoslavian wars. With just about a hundred pages in length, it presents a very succint picture of events that spanned over a decade (the nineties).

(A more ellaborate study of the Yugoslavia war is "Yugoslavia: Death of a Nation" written by BBC journalists and also sold by amazon.com)

I am not familiar with these series (Essential Histories) but it appears as though this is what they are intended to be, very succint works, just a roadmap to help the reader gather further knowledge elsewhere (but don't expect to find a big Bibliography here).

So, here's what I consider the strenghts of this book:

* its fine illustrations
* its elegant presentation (printed on very nice, 'shiny' paper)
* I also liked the way they present the 'participants' of the conflict (page 19). This is an interesting approach that I don't remember to have seen elsewhere, as they cite over 14 involved parties: other than Serbian, Croatians and Bosnians, there was the 'international community', international and military organisations that directly or indirectly had a saying in the outcome of the war.

Again, this presentation of the warring sides is interesting, and reminds me also of management theories about the numerous 'publics' or 'clients' that a corporation has to deal with on a daily basis (also known as 'interested parties' that are affected in some or another way by the business of a corporation, and which explains, in part, the profession of public relations).

To summarise, I recommend this book as a quick reference guide for the Yugoslavian wars, a roadmap for the beginner. (Yet I still consider 'Death of a nation' a much better introduction to the subject).
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In Transacting Transition, scholars and practitioners with firsthand knowledge of foreign assistance programs, recount what happens when democracy goes local, and principles like transparency, gender equality, interethnic tolerance and cooperation, run up against particular realities-political agendas, self-interest and memories of conflict.
Focused on the former Yugoslavia, where the 1990s saw an unprecedented investment of time and energy by a host of international organizations in processes of reconstruction and democracy assistance, the contributors offer description and analysis of diagnostic cases of international intervention to explore how the mission and vision of "democracy promotion" is enacted on the ground.
Each case is described by a participant and put in wider context by a short editorial introduction. The book is intended to be broadly accessible to readers and students interested in understanding what is entailed in making grand visions of democratization work. ... Read more

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In this second volume, Rusko Matulic continues to formulate a comprehensive bibliography of primarily published sources relating to the history, languages, literature, politics, government, religion, and social sciences of former Yugoslavia, including bibliographical materials on expatriates.

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This book argues that the efforts of international mediators tostop the war in Bosnia were deliberately thwarted by the factions, whochose war over peace. Major powers backed clients among the warringparties, and prolonged the war, instead of helping to bring it to anend. NATO sat on the fence when it could have helped bring peace,leading to two more years of war. When the USA finally engaged in thesearch for peace it did so for domestic political reasons, trampled onthe very moral precepts it had used to kill off earlier peace plans,used the building-blocks of the International Conference on the FormerYugoslavia, without acknowledgement, to draft the Dayton documents,and ended up with a plan that was inferior by far to the earlierVance--Owen or Stoltenberg--Owen plans. Thoroughlydocumented, this book will long be discussed by diplomatic historiansof the conflict. ... Read more

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It is of vital importance to the study of conflict analysis in the Caucasus and the Balkan region to identify what conditions foster new orders, and what factors, actors and institutions are necessary to create a stable equilibrium in intra- and inter-group conflicts. This book brings together a selection of case studies and theoretical approaches aimed at identifying the institutions which prevented or fostered escalation of conflict in the Caucasus and former Yugoslavia
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This inquiry is carried out in three interrelated parts. First, it explores the roots of ethnic conflict and analytically discusses the mechanisms and motivations that led to genocidal rape, ethnic cleansing and mass killings. The second part provides a critical view of the ideology of wartime sexual violence, highlighting the historical invisibility of this crime in which women are the major targets. Finally, part three addresses the question of why the international community, represented by United Nations peacekeeping missions, was unable to prevent or to stop the atrocities. The first part explores the roots of ethnic conflict in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda and analytically discusses the mechanisms and motivations that led to genocidal rape, ethnic cleansing and mass killings in these regions. It reveals and analyzes the dramatic and overwhelming relationship between national extremism, mass killings, and sexual violence in ethno-national conflicts.The second part of this analysis establishes a framework for understanding the nature and contours of sexual violence through case-studies of systematic rape as an integral element of ethnic conflict and genocide in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. It provides a critical view of the ideology of wartime sexual violence and wartime rape motivations as among the most destructive weapons of war, highlighting the historical invisibility of this crime in which women were, and still are, the major targets and most vulnerable victims. Finally, part three of this volume discloses the equivocal role of the international community in managing the crisis. ... Read more

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Focusing on NATO's continued crisis of identity, Joyce P. Kaufman argues that the conflicts in Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Kosovo have proven to be critical to an alliance that has not been able to define its roles and missions in the post-Cold War world. While, on the one hand, NATO was enlarging by inviting former adversaries in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union to join, on the other hand it has been woefully unprepared to deal with the ethnic conflicts that erupted on its borders and that could undermine the peace and stability of Europe. The author contends that the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia have potentially threatened the essence of NATO by forcing the alliance to take on the new role of peacekeeper without adequately allowing the members to examine the role the alliance wants to or should play in a largely postcommunist world. Despite ongoing discussion in NATO ministerial summits, the alliance has made little progress to date and public questions about the role and even the viability of NATO after the Cold War continue to grow. The inability to address these issues leaves NATO facing a number of pressing questions that this book tries to answer: What role can and should the alliance play in the future? And why have the ongoing conflicts in the Balkans proven to be a challenge that the alliance has been unwilling or unable to resolve? ... Read more