ABSTRACT
The competing components of 'hostility' passion, hatred and enmity, manifest themselves in myriad ways throughout the course of a particular war. Pre-existing hostility is an important aspect of the deteriorating political situation in Yugoslavia in the years leading to war and can inform the discussion of the cause-and-effect relationship of hostility as war is in progress. Despite this, the primary purpose of this chapter is to draw out and debate the salient features of passion, hatred, and enmity as the war evolved. The aspect of the Yugoslav crisis is important not simply because it casts light onto why Yugoslavia disintegrated in the way that it did; existing hostility also provides the context in which the war took place, underpinning the ethnic/cultural narrative. It is important that the use of emotive symbolism and the general rise in hostility is assessed in conjunction with the wider political and economic problems facing Yugoslavia at the end of the 1980s.
