The international determinants of the Bosnian War

Abstract

This paper analyzes the international determinants that led to and triggered the Bosnian War in the 1990s. An overview of the Socialist Yugoslavia and its international stance up to its dismemberment is presented at first, focusing on the integration of the country in the international system (and its impact on Yugoslavia) and on its international economic status. Then, the onset of the war and the actions of the Great Powers — United States, France, Germany, United Kingdom, and Russia — are analyzed, looking at the undermining of the Yugoslav state's sovereignty and the empowerment of domestic actors through external support to belligerent groups. It is seen that after Yugoslavia's economic destabilization, foreign interference propelled the start of the war by making the belligerent groups in Bosnia confident because of their foreign support. Geopolitical interests were a determinant of the Bosnian War, which was characterized as an intractable ethnic conflict to hide political agendas at play.

Keywords: Bosnian War; Yugoslavia; Post-Cold War geopolitics; Dismemberment of Yugoslavia;  Great power politics; Ethnic conflict.