Review: Kosovo Crossing
| Date | 01 June 2000 |
| Published date | 01 June 2000 |
| Author | John Fraser |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070200005500219 |
| Subject Matter | Review |
Reviews
KOSOVO
CROSSING
American
Ideals
Meet
Reality
on
the
Balkan
Battlefields
David
Fromkin
New
York:
Free
Press,
1999,
21Opp,
$31.00,
ISBN
0-684-86889-X
Few
20th
century
principles
have
been
as
destructive
for
the
Balkans,
particularly the former
Yugoslavia,
as
the
now
internationally
sancti-
fied
doctrine
of
the
right
to
national
self-determination.
We
have
seen
the breaking
up
of
a
reasonably
tolerant
and
successful
multi-ethnic
federation
and the
creation
of
independent
states from
its
remains
-
two
of
which
sought
aggrandizement
by
including
all
of
their ethnic
compatriots
within
their
borders,
while
fending
off
the
ambitions
for
secession
of
their ethnic
minorities.
David Fromkin
notes
that
the
slogan
'self-determination'
was
either
invented
or
adopted
by
Woodrow
Wilson, the
American
president
who
included
it
in
the
'Fourteen
Points'
that
constituted
the
American
idealistic
goals
in
entering
the
First
World
War.
His
own
secretary
of
state,
Robert
Lansing,
was
horrified at
the
implications
of
any
wide
implementation
of
such
a
policy.
'The
phrase,'
he
wrote,
'is
simply
loaded
with
dynamite.
It
will
raise
hopes
that
can
never
be
realized.
It
will,
I
fear,
cost
thousands
of
lives.'
The
first
40 per
cent
of
this
book
describes
the
history
of
American
involvement
with
the
rest
of
the
world,
from
isolationism
to
interven-
tionism -
each
with
a
moral
purpose.
It
then
moves
on
to
a
brief,
and
necessarily
superficial,
history
of
Serbia/Yugoslavia.
The
book's
title
is
explained
in
its
account
of
American
efforts
to
deal
with
the
collapse
of
the
former
Yugoslavia:
United
States
policy
collides
with
Balkan
reali-
ties.
Unable
to
keep
Yugoslavia
together,
Washington
'fell
back
on
the
defence
of
Bosnia-Herzegovina.'
When
this
culminated
in
the
Dayton
Accords
(which the
author
sees as
de
facto
partition
along
ethnic
lines),
the
United
States
fell
back
even
further and 'took
its
stand
in
Kosovo.'
That
thinking
leads
to an
examination
in
some
depth
of
what
the
United
States
thought
it
could
achieve in
Kosovo,
with
what
risks
and
moral
contradictions,
and
what
may
be
the
end
result.
The
interna-
tional
community,
led
by
the Americans,
seeks
to
create
a
multi-
national
state
in
Kosovo
with
legal
protection
for
its
minorities. This
is
not
the
goal
of
most
people
who
live
there.
In
a
bleak
commentary,
the
author
declares:
'If
this
failed
model
fails
again
in
Kosovo,
then
the
United
States
and
its
allies
will have
obtained
336
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
Spring2000
To continue reading
Request your trial