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IU EXPERTS AVAILABLE TO DISCUSS CRISIS
IN YUGOSLAVIA AND KOSOVO
In light of current movement toward a confrontation between NATO forces and Serbian forces in Yugoslavia, here is information about three Indiana University experts who can discuss U.S. policy in the region and provide historical background leading up to today's expected air strikes:
Lee Hamilton, a retired 17-term congressman from Indiana, director of the Center on Congress in IU's School of Public and Environmental Affairs and director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholarly Research in Washington, D.C., said that Congress' mixed support for air strikes demonstrates that it is reflecting the views of most of its constituents, which is one of its constitutional roles. Hamilton can be reached this week (March 22-26) at 202-691-4204.
"Congress is reflecting the views of the American people," Hamilton said. "The American people have never been very solid in their support of the Balkan initiatives. The president, I think, has been deficient in not explaining it on a sustained basis over a period of time. He rarely speaks about it, although he has in recent days. So there is a lack of information and maybe misunderstandings about Kosovo. Even the president in his comments yesterday urged people to get out a map and take a look.
"Most people feel they don't know much about the situation, and they obviously are getting concerned as it becomes possible that American forces will be in combat. This is a crisis that has kind of crept up on them in a sense. The Congress is clearly split and fairly narrowly split, although in votes this week it has shown in general its support for the air action the president is recommending. But I think the controversy in the Congress reflects the point of view of Americans, that is, there is a real split as to our involvement there.
"It's a very, very difficult policy problem. My own view is that (Yugoslavian leader Slobodan) Milosevic has been given every chance. He's ignored those chances and NATO has to act, but I must say I have a lot of questions as to whether or not this bombing can accomplish its purposes."
When asked if it was a realistic fear that war could spill out of Yugoslavia and into other countries in the region, Hamilton said, "This is one of the big questions, and I don't know that there is any firm answer here. I think that there certainly are implications for Macedonia and Albania ... I know the president talks aloud about this domino effect, the destabilizing of all of Europe. My own personal judgment about that is that it is overstated, but it cannot be discounted. I doubt very much if what happens in Kosovo would cause the breakup of Turkey or Greece. I don't see it going that far, but there certainly are some implications in the immediate area."
Bernd Fischer, associate professor of history at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne and author of two books on Albania, has just returned from a week-long visit to Albania. Fischer was there at the invitation of the Soros Foundation to present several lectures, and he had an extended meeting with the Albanian foreign minister. Contact Fischer, author of the forthcoming book Albania at War, 1939-1945 (Purdue University Press), at 219-481-6698 (office) or 219-424-3252 (home).
Fischer said that both Serbian and Albanian interests are unfairly using history to support their positions. "It's obviously a very complex situation from a historical standpoint, even more so from the standpoint of 'historicism' -- in other words, the enhancement of and creation of history used to build a nationalism base. I think this is what both the Serbs and the Albanians have done. The Serbs have focused on the battle of Kosovo in the 14th century and the idea that Kosovo basically is the cradle of the Serbian nation and the cradle of the Serbian church, which for centuries was the principal spokes-organization for the Serbian nation. What has been done here is fairly significant embellishment, in terms of the importance of Kosovo to Serbian nationalism.
"The Albanians, on the other hand, have more or less done the same thing. They have created the myth that Kosovo was an organized Albanian state as far back as the 16th century, which is certainly a vast exaggeration. One of the problems with the Balkans has always been due to the political structure which the Ottoman Empire set up after a series of invasions in the 15th century. They essentially ruled according to what was called the Millet System, or rule based upon religious communities, as opposed to national communities ... This inhibited the development of proto-nationalism, and Orthodox peoples tended to see themselves first as Orthodox and then as whatever they happened to be, Albanians or Serbs. In terms of the 19th century, when modern nationalism became a factor, it was literally impossible to draw equitable ethnic frontiers. There had been so much mixing over a period of 500 years, which is part of the root of the problem.
"When Albania was created as a state in 1912, because of the fact that it didn't have a major power supporter of any sort, about half of all Albanian-speaking peoples were left out of the state of Albania. Most of them were in Serbia-Montenegro at that point and then in Yugoslavia after World War I."
Paul Marer, professor of international business in IU's Kelley School of Business, said Yugoslavia's present economy is in ruins. Marer, a senior adjunct fellow at the Hudson Institute and an author or editor of 20 books and more than 100 papers on changing political, economic and business conditions in Central and Eastern Europe and elsewhere, can be reached at 812-855-2771(office) or 812-339-0892 (home).
Marer said, "In the former Yugoslavia, the Kosovo region was the poorest. Its per capita gross domestic product was only about one-seventh that of the richest republic, Slovenia, which since then has become an independent state. The economy of the 'new' Yugoslavia -- Serbia, its Kosovo region, plus Macedonia -- has deteriorated during the past several years, as a result of Serbia placing itself on a war footing and as a result of the Western embargo. Kosovo has suffered even more than the rest of Yugoslavia.
"Also hurting Kosovo's economy is the economic and political crisis of its southern neighbor, Albania, whose people are ethnic compatriots of the majority of Kosovo's population, and with which Kosovo had beneficial economic relations. The current fighting and political crisis is sure to cause a further substantial deterioration in Kosovo's economic situation, threatening starvation and the destruction of basic housing, utility services and essential imports."