And now for some good news…
Back when everyone used to talk about the Balkan tinderbox, tiny Macedonia was often voted most likely to ignite. Tensions between ethnic Albanians and Macedonians flared into violence in 2001. Frantic Western diplomacy produced a power-sharing agreement, but few were sanguine about it chances. Five years on, it appears to be a remarkable success. A new tolerance for ...
Back when everyone used to talk about the Balkan tinderbox, tiny Macedonia was often voted most likely to ignite. Tensions between ethnic Albanians and Macedonians flared into violence in 2001. Frantic Western diplomacy produced a power-sharing agreement, but few were sanguine about it chances. Five years on, it appears to be a remarkable success. A new tolerance for the Albanian language is just one of the signs of progress.
Back when everyone used to talk about the Balkan tinderbox, tiny Macedonia was often voted most likely to ignite. Tensions between ethnic Albanians and Macedonians flared into violence in 2001. Frantic Western diplomacy produced a power-sharing agreement, but few were sanguine about it chances. Five years on, it appears to be a remarkable success. A new tolerance for the Albanian language is just one of the signs of progress.
Before 2001, whenever a deputy of the Albanian community tried to speak in the Macedonian parliament in his mother tongue, the microphone on the platform would immediately be switched off. The action was typical of a country that steadfastly maintained Macedonia was a state of ethnic Macedonians alone. Today, the picture is very different and Albanian is spoken at plenary sessions in parliament as well as in local municipal assemblies.
At a time when conflict resolution in many parts of the world appears almost futile, it's helpful to remember that a combination of Western incentives and force have helped many parts of the Balkans edge away from the abyss.
David Bosco is a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. He is the author of The Poseidon Project: The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans. Twitter: @multilateralist
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