The Milosevic and Islamization Factors: Writing Contemporary History in the Balkans

Looking back on Yugoslavia's break-up and the subsequent warfare involving Bosnian Muslims, Croats, Albanians (Kosovars), and Serbs, two constants seem fundamental over the past two decades: Slobodan Milosevic and the ascension of Islam to independent statehood. Most academic and popular accounts, as well as official US and European positions, have placed emphasis on Milosevic's machinations to build Great Serbia, yet in the Serbian narrative itself the rebirth of Islamic power in Bosnia and Kosovo proved fundamental. This essay examines both narratives and concludes with some observations about writing contemporary history and certain risks from a hasty, inadequately prepared foreign policy consensus.