American Intervention In The Yugoslavia Civil War, 1991-1999

In this in-depth analysis of America's role in the Yugoslavian civil war, Prof. Robert H. Whealey persuasively argues that the intervention by the U. S. and the Great Powers in this regional conflict actually expanded the war rather than curtailed it. Contradicting public perceptions of the war, Whealey advances several points of contention based on a thorough review of the evidence. First, the American public and its leaders knew too little about the history of Yugoslavia before intervening in its politics; as a result, America's proposed solutions were often uninformed and misguided. Second, the American media coverage of the war was too superficial. For example, the widespread use of the term "ethnic cleansing" by both media and government created a type of Western propaganda about the war, in which Serbs were compared with Nazis. In fact, all sides committed atrocities. Another factor in U.S. Balkan policy was the decline in respect in the United States for international law, coupled with a resort to American military interventionism as a tool of advancing American interests. In this respect, Whealey criticizes the increasing role of the president in making foreign policy, which has led to the abuse of American power, not only in the case of President Clinton in Yugoslavia but also in the case of the current President George W. Bush in Iraq. He also points out that the U.S. government and media largely underestimated the influence of religion on the Balkan conflict as well as the influence of religious attitudes at home in forming judgments about the internecine strife in Yugoslavia. Finally, Whealey emphasizes that whatever American motives, in countries subject to Americaninterventionism (e.g., Yugoslavia and Iraq) military intervention is often viewed not as liberation but as imperialism. This provocative study throws much new light on a still largely misunderstood trouble spot of eastern Europe anWhealey, Robert H. is the author of 'American Intervention In The Yugoslavia Civil War, 1991-1999', published 2005 under ISBN 9781591022640 and ISBN 1591022649.