Commentary: Economic Change, Ethnic Relations and the Disintegration of Yugoslavia

In this literature, and identified as underpinning the relative success of certain localities across Europe which are based on such agglomerations, has been a concentration on the social and political dimensions of regions. Trust, co-operation and cultural consensus have been credited with creating the conditions for embedded and sustainable economic development in contrast with the traditional performance factors of costs, location, etc. In the increasingly globalizing system, a parallel debate has concerned the contradictions in promoting both economic cohesion and cultural diversity. GRAHAM and HART, 1999, for example, have argued in Debates and Surveys that the European project in particular is unable to deliver these objectives simultaneously. The article explores the evolution of the conflicts in Yugoslavia by considering the disintegration of that country over the last 15 years, and therefore confronts the more negative aspects of the interconnections between economic change and social relations. It examines the role of ethnic relations in Yugoslavia in recent times, and suggests lessons for the continent more widely.