Hyper-nationalism and irredentism in the Macedonian region: implications for U.S. policy\c Dean T. Katsiyiannis.

• Main Author: Katsiyiannis, Dean T.
• Other Authors: Yost, David S..
• Language: en_US
• Published: Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School 2013
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10945/31453

This thesis investigates the apparent intensification in hyper-nationalist sentiments in Greece and elsewhere in the Balkans resulting in part from international recognition of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) as an independent nation-state in 1993-1994. The thesis concludes that Balkan hyper-nationalism and irredentism come to the fore when external powers are no longer imposing a quasi-peace on the Balkans and when there is a threat to the delicate balance of power in the Macedonian region. Both conditions have emerged since the breakup of the former Soviet Union and of the former Yugoslavia in 1991. The only solution that might successfully deal with these conditions would be a U.S. led international effort to deter aggression and to promote economic recovery and democratic reform in the Balkans; but it is far from clear that such an effort will be made.