Conversi, Daniele (2000) Central secession: towards a new analytical concept? The case of former Yugoslavia. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 26 (2). pp. 333-355. ISSN 1369-183x
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
Political literature customarily defines secession as a movement developing in the periphery against the centre. This article questions this common assumption by raising the possibility that secession may be propelled by the centre. A working definition of 'central secession' (or 'secessionism by the centre') will be limited to those cases where a powerful nationalist movement operates from within the core or dominant nation(ality). The focus will be on the break-up of Yugoslavia - the disintegration of which was consistently and widely perceived as a conflict of secessionist republics opposed by, and confronted with, a unitary state. A brief geo-political excursus of recent secessionist movements will serve to highlight the singularity of the Yugoslav 'model'. In the case of Serbia, the rhetoric was adamantly unitarian, anti-secessionist, even anti-nationalist. It emphasised the defence of territorial integrity at all costs. In this way, the centre could cast itself as the spotless saviour of the country's integrity versus a 'treacherous' periphery. In fact, the hidden agenda of the regime was ethnic separation - of Serbs from non-Serbs
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | Political literature customarily defines secession as a movement developing in the periphery against the centre. This article questions this common assumption by raising the possibility that secession may be propelled by the centre. A working definition of 'central secession' (or 'secessionism by the centre') will be limited to those cases where a powerful nationalist movement operates from within the core or dominant nation(ality). The focus will be on the break-up of Yugoslavia - the disintegration of which was consistently and widely perceived as a conflict of secessionist republics opposed by, and confronted with, a unitary state. A brief geo-political excursus of recent secessionist movements will serve to highlight the singularity of the Yugoslav 'model'. In the case of Serbia, the rhetoric was adamantly unitarian, anti-secessionist, even anti-nationalist. It emphasised the defence of territorial integrity at all costs. In this way, the centre could cast itself as the spotless saviour of the country's integrity versus a 'treacherous' periphery. In fact, the hidden agenda of the regime was ethnic separation - of Serbs from non-Serbs |
| Keywords: | Theories of nationalism, Homogenisation, Comparative sociology, Ethnicity, Conflict resolution, Nationhood, Nationality, Serbia, Political theory |
| Subjects: | L Social studies > L214 Nationalism L Social studies > L240 International Politics L Social studies > L330 Ethnic studies |
| Divisions: | College of Social Sciences > Faculty of Health & Social Sciences > School of Social & Political Sciences |
| Depositing User: | Bev Jones |
| Date Deposited: | 16 Jul 2009 10:02 |
| Last Modified: | 18 Jul 2011 16:21 |
| URI: | http://eprints.lincoln.ac.uk/id/eprint/1949 |
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