ABSTRACT
This chapter assesses ethnic nationalism in the former Soviet Union and Yugoslavia as it has shaped: post-Cold War international politics, capabilities of international organizations to cope with regional civil wars, long-term regional insecurity, and lessons learned about crisis prevention and United States foreign policy implications. In the former Soviet Union, the international community has taken even fewer steps to try to soften ethnic conflict. Ethnic conflict has raised key questions regarding international security in the post-Cold War era. The case against military intervention rests essentially on the argument that places like former Yugoslavia and Caucasia vividly illustrate the lack of international security mechanisms required to control ethnically-induced civil violence. Ethnic tensions and ethnic wars lead naturally to weapons proliferation—and to a loss of control over existing weapons. Ethnic tensions hold the potential for undermining a transition toward democratic market economies, a point worth fleshing out in greater detail.
