Migrations molded Balkan societies, and were very common in multiethnic empires. In the modern era, before World War I, economic factors forced millions of people to migrate overseas, as guest workers in the 1960s and 70s, and as economic migrants thereafter. In addition, many people had to leave their homes as political refugees or as victims of ethnic cleansing. This volume, the first part of a selection of conference papers, focuses on historical and cultural aspects of migration in, from, and to Southeastern Europe.

This book brings together important original contributions to scholarly and political/policy debates over the disintegration of Yugoslavia, and especially the war in Bosnia. The analyses are grounded on empirically-based arguments about social and political dynamics, resonate with much larger/enduring issues of social science inquiry, and consistently challenge commonly-held beliefs about the Balkans that are based more on ignorance, misunderstanding, or outright prejudice, than on intimate knowledge of the region, its peoples, and their histories. When first published, some of these essays...