Conclusion

Abstract

Otto von Bismarck famously described the Balkans as “not worth the healthy bones of a single Pomeranian Grenadier.”¹ His cynical observation has been widely credited. For several centuries, South East Europe has suffered the reputation of an area plagued by a toxic mix of backwardness, ethnic rivalry, and endemic violence. A post-World War II study describes it as a “no man’s land of world politics… foredoomed to conflict springing from heterogeneity.”² The most widely read account of the region written during the 1990s, portrays a repository of sadism and violence “full of savage hatreds, leavened by poverty and alcoholism.”³ Unfortunately, similar perceptions continue to color the policies of the international community toward South East European security issues.