The Balkans in international relations /

Those overwhelmed by Barbara Jelavich's definitive History of the Balkans (2v.; CH, Feb '84) can judiciously turn to this brief overview by a Yugoslav specialist in international law and diplomacy who heads the Center for International Studies at the University of Belgrade. Jankovic, who is probably a reliable member of the Yugoslav Communist Party, never permits nuances of Marxist ideology to intrude into his refreshingly nonpolemical survey of the tangled evolution of the Balkan peoples. These ethnic and national groups have been ensnared in the skein of international rivalries until, as the author contends, they became masters of their own houses at the end of WW I. Scrutinizing the Balkans as an object and a subject of international relations in different epochs and constellations, Jankovic skillfully reduces the complexities to a readable (even enjoyable) analysis easily digested by the uninitiated. Readers can obtain an uncluttered overview of how political and diplomatic events centering on the Balkans have often been the basic cause of many incessant European conflicts since the Middle Ages. College, university, and public libraries. -S. D. Spector, Russell Sage College