Representations of the ‘Balkans in the Foreign Policy Discourses of Croatia, Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina
Representations of the ‘Balkans in the Foreign Policy Discourses of Croatia, Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina

Summary/Abstract: The build -up of nationalism in Yugoslavia and its successor states was accompanied by a seismic shift in public discourse , as the national political elites mobilised the rhetoric of Othering in order to distinguish the irrespective nations from ‘the Balkans ’, to construct and reinforce a new national identity , and to endorse European integration . This paper investigates how the discourses of Balkanism and Othering functioned in international relations by examining how the Balkans were represented in the foreign policy articulations of Croatia , Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina during and after the Yugoslav conflicts . By analysing speeches delivered at the UN General Assembly between 1993 and 2003 ,this paper investigates how Southeast European states constructed their identities on the international stage and capitalised on “Balkan ” identity for foreign policy objectives . It finds that representations of the Balkans were part of foreign policy discourses , but that their use was conditioned by identity considerations and the foreign policy objectives of each country .The paper concludes that both Croatia and Macedonia employed distinct forms of Balkanist rhetoric in order to construct identity and legitimise European integration , while Bosnia and Herzegovina , during the 1992¬1995 conflict , adopted a counter -discourse refuting various stereotypical representations of the Balkans to which the country had been initially subjected by Western policy -makers and observers

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