Greece, Serbia, Bosnia: From Balkan Wars to Economic & Security Promises of European Union

This course is an interdisciplinary Balkans (Southeast Europe) Studies course. Starting with the “shot heard around the world” – the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo in 1914, marking the start of World War One – the course tracks the collapse of the Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian, and Russian Empires and the rise of Yugoslavia (first as a Kingdom and later as a Socialist Federal Republic). With these as a foundation, this course focuses primarily on the collapse of Yugoslavia and the 1990s ethno-religious wars that continue to define current political, social, and economic issues, and which partly inspired Samuel Huntington’s (in)famous article “The Clash of Civilizations”. Course discussions build off of numerous guest lectures by war veterans, academics, politicians, activists and religious leaders of all ethnicities and religions (Serbs, Croats, Bosnian Muslims, Kosovar Albanians, among others), and representatives from the EU, UN, and others. Assignments draw upon personal narratives, films, documentaries, podcasts, and other online resources.

The 2025 Balkans Dialogue investigates conflict and post-conflict reconstruction in the former Yugoslavia (“FY”) plus the interconnectedness of FY states (notably Serbia, Kosovo, and Bosnia-Herzegovina) and Greece. This interconnectedness is especially apparent as FY states seek to join the EU and as Balkan states continue to manage refugee and migrant “flows” throughout the “Balkan Route” – starting in Greece (a member of the EU and a Balkan country) and continuing through North Macedonia and Serbia (two non-EU, Balkan states) and back again into the EU. Building upon the 1990s wars and post-war transitions we move on to examine the effects of war crimes trials on both regional reconciliation and international politics (e.g., Balkan origins of white supremacists’ Islamophobic terrorism). We also examine the increasing global interest (“meddling”) in the Balkans, from the European Union and NATO, to Russia, China, Arab States, Iran, Israel, and Turkey. This “interest” is measured by large-scale economic investments, diplomatic initiatives, military partnerships, “soft power” projects (universities, cultural centers, and others), as well as strategic dimension of migrations and Coronavirus-related international assistance. Ultimately, we discuss how Russia-Ukraine war influences Balkans.