balkanization

Balkanization is a term used in political science and international relations to describe the fragmentation of a region into smaller, often hostile, sovereign states along ethnic, religious, or linguistic lines. The term originated in reference to the Balkan Peninsula in Southeastern Europe, where the decline of the Ottoman Empire in the 19th and early 20th centuries led to a succession of wars, independence movements, and territorial rearrangements. The word was popularized in Western media and diplomacy as the region's political landscape became increasingly fragmented, sometimes predicting or diagnosing further disintegration.

Historically, balkanization is associated with the Balkan Wars (1912–1913) and the dissolution of empires that created new states such as Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Greece, Albania, and later Yugoslavia's emergence and its post-1990s disintegration into multiple states (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia). The pattern involves competing nationalist movements, ethnic or religious identities, border disputes, and external interventions, with political instability and weak institutions contributing to fragmentation. Economic inequalities and security dilemmas can exacerbate tensions between successor states.

Critics note that the term can oversimplify complex political processes and is sometimes applied as a pejorative or teleology. In addition to the Balkans, scholars apply the concept to describe fragmentation in other regions or hypothetical future scenarios, though each case varies in its historical specifics.

In summary, balkanization denotes fragmentation into smaller, often antagonistic political units, arising from a mix of internal divisions, external pressures, and historical trajectories.