Economic Decline and Nationalism in the Balkans

Two dominant characteristics of the Balkans in the early 1990s seem to be precipitous economic decline and rampant nationalism. This study addresses the following three questions: What internal and external factors have deepened the economic crises in the Balkan states over the past three years? What is the nature of nationalism in the Balkans? And what is the relationship between economic decline and the rise of nationalism? By evaluating the costs and benefits of fragmentation and integration in the Balkan states, this study explores the economic future of the Balkans. It is argues that, given the nature of the economic and ethnic composition of the Balkan states, larger heterogeneous units are preferable to the proliferation of small nation states.