yugoslavias implosion

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ChApter 5
International Court of Justice (icj) judgment issued on February 7,
2007, that there was insufficient evidence to prove Serbia’s responsibility
for war and for genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina did not
help. On the contrary, the court’s decision (although it did not exonerate
Serbia) strengthened the policy of denial promoted by the Serbian
elite.
The Constitution adopted in 2006, which describes Kosovo as an
inalienable part of Serbia, betrays this continuing attachment to the
dream of Greater Serbia. Outside its borders, Serbia has continuously
obstructed the consolidation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and is
doing the same in the case of Kosovo. Within Serbia, the unwillingness
to relinquish the idea of a Greater Serbia has delayed democratic
transition in Serbia; indeed, that development has been subordinated
to territorial enlargement. Belgrade remains particularly resistant to
moves to decentralize power and to include minorities in the wider
political and economic community. The return of refugees has not
proceeded as planned mainly because refugees were systematically
resettled in specific areas in order to change the local demographic
composition. In Serbia, they were settled mostly in Vojvodina; now
Serbs are the majority in previously predominantly Croatian and
Hungarian areas. In Kosovo, the Serb elites discourage Serbs from
returning beyond the imagined line of division. It is not yet clear
whether Belgrade will encourage Serbs to stay in the Kosovo enclaves
or not.
The arrest of Radovan Karadžić in July 2008 and his extradition
to The Netherlands to face trial at the icty suggested that Serbia
might be adopting a new policy of greater cooperation with the
international community. However, Serb nationalism lives on in
elementary and high schools, in universities, in the media, and the
culture in general. Radical nationalism will not disappear by itself,
for the illusion persists that a change in circumstances may permit
the realization of imperialistic goals. For example, in a meeting in