Conversi, Daniele 
ORCID: 0000-0002-6618-2738
(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
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 |
|---|---|
| Official URL: | http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/1369183X.as... |
| Additional Information: | © Taylor & Francis |
| Divisions: | Government |
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races J Political Science > JC Political theory D History General and Old World > DR Balkan Peninsula |
| Date Deposited: | 23 Jan 2009 15:11 |
| Last Modified: | 11 Sep 2025 06:15 |
| URI: | http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/22189 |
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