Bosnia and Nationalism: Tom Nairn Replies

Two general attitudes seem to surface in all arguments about the post-Yugoslav wars. The first is the one with which Denitch begins: Slays of all sorts are annoyed if it is suggested that some special historical curse attaches to them and their region—that they are more fated or imprisoned by the past than people in the West. The second is the one he then goes on to defend: ex-Yugoslays are pretty much like anyone else, with similar quotients of soccer hooligans, family concerns, and citizen disgruntlements. If they are currently behaving differently (therefore) this must be because they have been pushed or lured into it, by the “new political elites” and intellectuals who provide legitimation for widespread thuggery.

<...