Beyond nationalism? The inter-war period and some features of the complex transformation of southeastern Europe
In Southeastern Europe, the end of the First World War marked a profound geopolitical transformation and the start of an important and conflicting process of modernisation of the economic, social and political structures of the countries in the region. Agrarian reforms, changes in political...
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Institute for Balkan Studies SASA
2024-01-01
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| Series: | Balcanica |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/0350-7653/2024/0350-76532455185B.pdf |
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| Summary: | In Southeastern Europe, the end of the First World War marked a profound
geopolitical transformation and the start of an important and conflicting
process of modernisation of the economic, social and political structures of
the countries in the region. Agrarian reforms, changes in political
structures, increasing urbanisation, population growth, and ad hoc
legislation for minority rights protection were some of the most important
issues addressed in those years. This essay aims to elucidate the main knots
and contradictions in the internal and international life of the countries
of Balkan Europe, showing how efforts to change political and social
structures encountered enormous obstacles in the intrinsic weakness of those
socio-economic structures, but also in the will of important segments of the
Balkan ruling classes, especially those who had realised the nationalistic
dreams of the decades before the Great War, to reassert the supremacy of
their respective power and ethnic groups. Yet there were changes, and
important ones at that. In foreign policy, for example, the Balkans was the
only region in Europe where an attempt was made to turn the so-called
‘spirit of Locarno’ into a concrete achievement, albeit unsuccessfully. |
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| ISSN: | 0350-7653 2406-0801 |