U.N. involvement in the Yugoslav conflict

The formerly Yugoslav federation was comprised of various ethnic groups, namely the Slovenes, the Croats, the Serbs, and the Bosnians. Yugoslavia exploded when Slovenia and Croatia declared independence on June 25, 1971. The war was the product of a conflict that had numerous dimensions and intractable roots. Consequently, the war has been variously described as one of aggression, of ethic conflict, of civil divisions, or of genocide, depending on who is characterizing the war or which sub-conflict is being discussed (Eknes, 1995, pp. 109-126).

The conflict can be perceived as consisting of at least three interconnected struggles. The first conflict, which triggered the war, involves the northwestern region of Slovenia, Croatia, and Serbia. The second conflict is centered on Bosnia-Herzegovina and the relationship among the Serbs, Croats, and Muslims. The third conflict, still under some sort of control, involves the southern ethnic triangle--the Serbs, Albanians, and Macedonians.

Leaving aside the ethnic animosities, which are important in all three conflicts, the conflict in the northwest is largely an

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ed as Iraq's own citizens. Javier Perez de Cuellar, Boutros-Ghali's predecessor as secretary-general, remarked that the world was "clearly witnessing what is probably an irresistible shift in public attitudes toward the belief that the defense of the oppressed in the name of morality should prevail over frontiers and legal documents" (Mandelbaum, 1994, p. 13). That shift occurred for two reasons. One is the end of the Cold War, which eliminated one of the main purposes of the norm of non-intervention: the prevention of conflict among great powers trying to impose their own models of legitimacy on other countries. With the collapse of communism, proper domestic order has achieved greater consensus than ever before. The second reason for the shift in the international attitude toward intervention is the increasing acceptance of the protection of individual rights as an international norm. That emerging tenet is in conflict with the principle of the inviolability of national sovereignty. Indeed, it encourages intervention because the rights of individuals are often violated by their own governments. Some of the age-old motives for intervention are suddenly all but extinct. The search for economic gain was one such motive.
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2562
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)

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