Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on an area which is characterised by recurrent conflict among confessional groups and by uneven evolution of nation states: the Eastern Mediterranean and the Balkans, the historical zone of contact between Christianity and Islam. It also focuses on conflicts involving religious minorities in five cases in the Balkans and the Middle East: the Copts, the Palestinian Christians, the Pomaks and the plural societies in Lebanon and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The book examines the difficulties of defining the key concepts: religious minorities, their relationship to international security, and the social and political specificity of the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean as the area of investigation. It also focuses on the fragmented political and social identities in the area. The book further explains the level of theoretical analysis of the potential causes of conflict and communal mobilisation for conflict.