Balkan Idols

Abstract

Abstract Written on the basis of a wide range of South Slav sources and previously unpublished, often confidential documents from communist state archives, as well as on the author's own on‐the‐ground experience as a journalist, this book explores the political role and influence of religious organizations, namely, the Serbian Orthodox Church, the Catholic Church in Croatia and Bosnia‐Herzegovina, and the Yugoslav Muslim Organization (Islamic community) over the course of the last century. The author emphatically rejects the notion that a “clash of civilizations” has played a central role in fomenting aggression in the former Yugoslavia. He finds no compelling evidence of an upsurge in religious fervor among the general population. Rather, he concludes, the primary religious players in the conflicts have been activist clergy. What emerges from the book, which aims to be the first political history of religion in modern Yugoslav states, and combines narrative and analysis, is a deeply nuanced understanding of the history and troubled future of one of the world's most volatile regions. The narrative presents the process of the making, decay, and collapse of several regimes and nation‐states chronologically, highlighting the role of religion in these processes, while also presenting the history of the religious institutions mentioned above. The analysis deals with the role of religious institutions, symbols, and practices in state formation and destruction. The book starts with a chronology (1935–2002) and maps of the region as background to what follows in the 12 chapters.

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