Book Notes
| Date | 01 September 2003 |
| Author | Håkan Wiberg |
| DOI | 10.1177/00223433030405018 |
| Published date | 01 September 2003 |
| Subject Matter | Notes |
have benefited from more focused contributions
and attempts to formulate ‘new thinking’ on how
to overcome obstacles to a ‘culture of prevention’.
Arne Strand
Ramet, Sabrina P., 2002. Balkan Babel: The
Disintegration of Yugoslavia from the Death of Tito
to the Fall of Milosevic, 4th edn. Boulder, CO &
Oxford: Westview. 426 pp. ISBN 0813339057
(paperback).
This fourth and extended edition of Balkan Babel
concerns the dissolution of Yugoslavia in the
years between 1980 and 2000. The title refers to
the Tower of Babel: like the story of Babel, the
story of Yugoslavia may be read as one of failure
of cooperation (pp. 3–4). The reason for this
failure is, according to Ramet, that the state and
its holders suffered from a consistent lack of legit-
imacy. This is also the central argument of the
book. Part one looks at the period of disintegra-
tion (1980–91); part two focuses on religion and
culture and their link to the erosion of legitimacy;
and part three concerns war and transition, with
aspecial focus on Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia,
Macedonia and Bosnia.This part also looks at the
repercussions of the war on religious matters,
gender relations and culture.The four th part dis-
cusses the legitimacy of the peace accords; and
finally come the epilogue and an ‘anti-bibliogra-
phy’. The epilogue reaffirms the importance of
legitimacy by claiming that ‘legitimation is the
central problem of politics’ (p. 375). In the anti-
bibliography, Ramet reviews the reviews over
scholarly material on the conflict. Although the
anti-bibliography is interesting and important,
that debate might have been better started else-
where. Here, it risks distracting the reader’s focus
from the text. Balkan Babel is excellently written
by one of the leading scholars in the field; it holds
aconvincing argument and is clearly based on
years of thorough research. I strongly recom-
mend it to all those seeking to understand the dis-
integration of former Yugoslavia.
Kari M. Osland
Wiseman, Geoffrey, 2002. Concepts of Non-
Provocative Defence: Ideas and Practices in Inter-
national Security. Basingstoke: Palgrave (St.
Antony’s Series). x + 293 pp. ISBN 0333790251.
Ideas on non-provocative (or non-offensive or
defensive, etc.) defence were developed from the
1970s, attracted political support in the 1980s
(Palme Commission, Gorbachev, political parties
in NATO) and lost much attention after the
Cold War (though important works still
appeared), their claim to be able to alleviate the
security dilemma in the Cold War having lost
relevance. Wiseman discusses varieties of the
concept and their theoretical underpinnings,
describes precursors and critically analyses five
cases. The ‘rise’ was in Western Europe in the
1980s and Gorbachev’s New Thinking; the
‘decline’ is exemplified by Europe after the Cold
War, the Gulf War and the Asia-Pacific region.
Wiseman systematically reviews what claims the
ideas made; what (explicit or implicit) assump-
tions they made about history, the international
system, causes of war, the nature of states and
technology; and with what degree of coherence
and persuasiveness, including adaptation to new
conditions, they were communicated. The focus
is precisely analytical, not on the history of ideas
or on wider types of ‘alternative defence’. The
examination combines impressive erudition,
systematic and coherent work, perceptive ana-
lytical distinctions and a broad understanding of
relevant background factors. The final chapter,
‘Lessons for the future’, draws the lines together
on strengths and weaknesses of various ideas and
concludes that even after the post-1989 chal-
lenges, the idea is far from dead and has much to
contribute, at least as a complement, to deter-
ring, conducting and settling wars. For those
looking for a lucid and critical compendium on
the state of the art of non-provocative defence,
this is it.
Håkan Wiberg
Authors of Book Notes in this issue:
Pavel Baev – PRIO
Asbjørn Eide – Norwegian Institute of Human
Rights
Stein Sundstøl Eriksen – Norwegian Institute of
International Affairs
Ivar Evensmo – PRIO
Nic Marsh – PRIO
Brian Martin – University of Wollongong
Kari M. Osland – Norwegian Institute of Inter-
national Affairs
Sven Gunnar Simonsen – PRIO
Arne Strand – Chr. Michelsen Institute
Pinar Tank – PRIO
Håkan Wiberg – Institute for International Studies,
Copenhagen
journal of PEACE RESEARCH volume 40 / number 5 / september 2003
614
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