Yugoslavia’s successor states

Abstract

The paper discusses territorial disputes that arose during and after the break up of Yugoslavia. It starts by outlining the institutional context of the multinational Yugoslav federation within which the application of the uti possidetis principle, that is, the transformation of interrepublican borders into international frontiers, and denial of collective rights and territorial autonomy to minority groups in new states triggered large-scale nationalist violence. The paper then discusses in detail territorial disputes and conflicts in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro (incl. Kosovo) and Macedoni