Balkanization is a term used to describe the division or fragmentation of a state or region into smaller, often ethnically similar places. The term can also refer to the disintegration or break-up of other things such as companies, Internet websites or even neighborhoods.
What is Balkanization and why is it important?
Balkanization is a pejorative term for fragmentation of a larger region or state into smaller regions or states, which may be hostile or uncooperative with one another. The root causes of Balkanization are usually differences of ethnicity, culture, and religion and some other factors such as past grievances.
What is an example of balkanization in AP Human Geography?
Balkanization in the AP® Human Geography Exam Questions in the past have related to balkanization but not through direct questioning. For example, questions have asked how ethnicity has detracted from the development of a national identity and led to the weakening of the state itself.
What is the meaning of the term'Balkanization'?
It was coined at the end of World War I to describe the ethnic and political fragmentation that followed the breakup of the Balkanization, division of a multinational state into smaller ethnically homogeneous entities.
What is the balkanization of Lebanon?
During the 1980s, the Lebanese academic and writer Georges Corm used the term balkanization to describe attempts by supporters of Israel to create buffer states based on ethnic backgrounds in the Levant in order to protect Israeli sovereignty. In 2013 the French journalist Bernard Guetta writing in the Libération newspaper applied the term to:
What occurs in balkanization?
Balkanization is the fragmentation of a larger region or state into smaller regions or states, which may be hostile or uncooperative with one another. It is usually caused by differences of ethnicity, culture, and religion and some other factors such as past grievances.
What is a balkanized country?
1 : to break up (a region, a group, etc.) into smaller and often hostile units opposes the partition of Germany, and holds that the economic consequences of Balkanizing the country would be serious — Times Literary Supplement.
Can balkanization happen in any country?
Although the term refers to the Balkan states, balkanization can happen in any country that breaks apart into smaller ones. Examples of balkanization, or potential balkanization, include: Breakup of the Soviet Union. Attempted establishment of Kurdistan from regions of Turkey, Iran, and Iraq.
What is balkanization in geography?
In many instances, balkanization is used as a term to describe the devolution of larger countries and states as a result of multi-ethnicity leading to ethnic fragmentation and an overall feeling of political fragmentation. In these instances, balkanization can lead to dictatorship or even ethnic cleansing.
Why is it called balkanization?
Division of a place or country into several small political units, often unfriendly to one another. The term balkanization comes from the name of the Balkan Peninsula, which was divided into several small nations in the early twentieth century.
What is balkanization AP Human Geography example?
Balkanization: Process by which a state breaks down through conflicts among its. ethnicities. My definition: Destruction of a state due to ethnic conflicts. Example: Sudan is currently undergoing balkanization.
What is the opposite of balkanization?
Antonyms & Near Antonyms for balkanized. unanimous, undivided, united.
How can we stop balkanization?
The key to stopping the balkanization of the Internet is to use smart policies to ensure data flows freely across international boundaries and overcome specific barriers that threaten the web and Internet supported applications.
What is the difference between devolution and balkanization?
The movement of power from the central government to regional governments within the state or breakup of a large state (balkanization) into several independent ones is known as devolution.
Which country has experienced the most extreme balkanization since the dissolution of the Soviet Union?
Which country has experienced the most extreme "balkanization" since the dissolution of the Soviet Union? French Polynesia. the Roman Empire. extended from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea and was the location of the first city-states in the Middle East.
Why was the term "Balkanization" coined?
(The term Balkanization is today invoked to explain the disintegration of some multiethnic states and their devolution into dictatorship, ethnic cleansing, and civil war.)
What are the Balkans?
The Balkans are usually characterized as comprising Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, and Slovenia —with all or part of each of those countries….
What ethnic groups were fighting in Bosnia in the 1990s?
In the 1990s in Bosnia and Herzegovina, ethnic divisions and intervention by Yugoslavia and Croatia led to widespread fighting between Serbs, Croatians, and Bosniaks (Muslims) for control of key villages and roads.
How many people died in the Bosnian war?
During the fighting, more than 10,000 people died, including some 1,500 children.
What countries used force in the 1990s?
During the 1990s, for example, Russia and Yugoslavia used force in attempts to quash independence movements in Chechnya and the ethnically Albanian province of Kosovo, respectively; in each case further violence ensued, resulting in the death and displacement of thousands of people.
What is the term for the division of a state into smaller, often ethnically similar places?
Balkanization is a term used to describe the division or fragmentation of a state or region into smaller, often ethnically similar places. The term can also refer to the disintegration or break-up of other things such as companies, Internet websites or even neighborhoods.
What countries have attempted to balkanize?
There have also been attempts to balkanize in Kashmir, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Kurdistan, and Iraq.
What was the name of the country that was created out of a combination of over 20 different ethnic groups at the end
In addition to violence in some, all of these newly created countries have experienced difficult periods of transition in their governments, economies, and societies. Yugoslavia was created out of a combination of over 20 different ethnic groups at the end of World War I.
What countries were created out of Yugoslavia?
The countries eventually created out of the former Yugoslavia were Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Slovenia, Macedonia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Kosovo did not declare its independence until 2008 and it is still not recognized as fully independent by the entire world.
What countries were created after the collapse of the Soviet Union?
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the countries of Russia, Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were created. In the creation of some of these countries, there was often extreme violence and hostility.
Is Balkanization a concept?
Whether in the Balkans or in other parts of the world, violent or not violent, it is clear that balkanization is an important concept that has and will continue to shape the geography of the world.
When did Yugoslavia disintegrate?
In the early 1990s, Yugoslavia finally disintegrated after around 250,000 people were killed by war.
What is the Balkan Peninsula?
Not a whole lot of people know about the Balkan Peninsula because it existed so long before we were even born, but it’s where the term ‘Balkanization’ actually came from. Basically, at the time, the area was known as the Ottoman Empire, and it occupied the area where we have current countries like Bulgaria, Albania and Serbia. Nowadays, we use this term to refer to any country that breaks apart to form several countries or several states. Balkanization mostly leads to cold wars. In this AP® Human Geography study guide, we will discuss the term balkanization as well as how it has changed and different parts of the world it has applied to.
What is the term for the devolution of larger countries and states?
In many instances, balkanization is used as a term to describe the devolution of larger countries and states as a result of multi-ethnicity leading to ethnic fragmentation and an overall feeling of political fragmentation. In these instances, balkanization can lead to dictatorship or even ethnic cleansing.
What is the definition of Balkanization?
Important Definitions for Balkanization. Multinational – Relating to several different nationalities or comprising of several different nationalities. Balkanization can occur in regions where there is a lot of diversity and nationalities coming together in one place.
What is the meaning of "multi ethnic"?
Multi-ethnic – Relating to several different ethnic groups or comprising of several different ethnic groups. Balkanization typically only occurs in areas where there is multi-ethnicity, which can lead to problems within the region and amongst the people living there.
What is a multi-ethnic region?
A multi-ethnic region could be a single country or state that comprises of a range of different people from different ethnic backgrounds all at the same time like in Armenia, where ethnic differences caused a lot of problems in the country.
How long did the Rebellion last?
It lasted for a long time but after a while things started going badly for the Empire and it started breaking apart. The people weren’t happy with the way that the Empire was ruling them, and they started a rebellion. That rebellion began in 1817, but it didn’t end for 95 years, until 1912.
Is balkanization a positive thing?
What we know is that balkanization has happened in a number of countries, like the ones we’ve already mentioned, but we haven’t seen any way that it’s a positive occurrence. What’s happening now though is that researchers are starting to think about whether it could be positive. One of the biggest things they’re focusing on is the United Kingdom, which is already a large territory much like the Ottoman Empire was. The way that it’s run right now, the entire United Kingdom is treated as one country, but really it’s made up of smaller countries.
Development of The Term Balkanization
Attempts at Balkanization
- In the 1950s and 1960s, balkanization began occurring outside of the Balkans and Europe when several British and French colonial empires began fragmenting and breaking up in Africa. Balkanization was at its height in the early 1990s however when the Soviet Union collapsed and the former Yugoslavia disintegrated. With the collapse of the Soviet Unio...
Balkanization of America and Europe
- In recent years there has been talk of the "balkanized states of America" and of balkanization in Europe. In these cases, the term is not used to describe the violent fragmentation that occurred in places like the former Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. In these instances, it describes potential divisions based political, economic and social differences. Some political commentators in the …