Failed Intervention: The United States in the Balkans - Origins of War, Disintegration, U.S. Strategic Lessons, Legacy of Yugoslavia

The violence of Yugoslavia is soaked in historical injustice and nationalist tradition. Its historical mold is not unique; but the world's reaction is. The ongoing failure of Yugoslavia and its fractious cascade of regime changes are a product of flawed intervention. United States intervention failed because it opted for termination determined by strategic ways rather than resolution to meet strategic ends. The failure of Yugoslavia presents a model for flawed intervention and the instability achieved through the intrusion of sovereignty. This analysis follows a framework of examining the failure of U.S. intervention in Yugoslavia in three parts: (1) the developmental history that create the conditions for the latest Balkan War; (2) reasons and results of U.S. intervention; (3) strategic implications for similar interventions.

The West intervened in the Yugoslavian conflict in the early 1990's to satisfy the interests of stability and alliances. This conflict remains unresolved in a hellish state of not-at-war and not-at-peace. No party considers the multiple peace agreements as just, an aspect that denies the enduring aspects of resolution. Truce without peace, or peace at any price defined the political logic of resolution. The West failed, its intervention first too slow and then later too brash. This occurred because the West developed a termination solution that failed to address the root causes of the war.
The break-up of Yugoslavia was not caused by ancient hatreds or virulent nationalism. Nor did one historical villain perpetuate a war. It took several villains to exploit Yugoslavia's fatal flaws. The purpose of this analysis is to assess the efficacy of US Balkan intervention against the causes of the latest Balkan war. Resolution did not occur because the incentive of war was not exhausted. Its flaws were formalized in settlements that formalized ethnic divisions. These anachronistic solutions of ethnic distinction have been proven ineffective throughout Balkan history. This end had no prospect of success.
The legacy of Yugoslavia is a requiem of injustice sustained by violent intervention. Contrary to many contemporary interpretations, the Balkan model of violent instability is neither rooted in ancient hatreds nor ethnocentrism. Instead, Balkan violence is the product of a contrived exploitation of the fears of internal and external marginalization. The potential of moderating elements has been arrested by ethno-centrist political maneuver. The unsolved questions of sovereignty, self-determination and nation further aggravate a maligned history. The region has attempted all forms of government, and none has survived. There is one commonality, until now its structures have always been the product of external intervention. Governments have been imposed but have never grown. Its history is a wound that has allowed no stage for democracy and has forfeited the promise of self-determination and sovereignty.