For more than a decade the Balkans have been a centre of crisis - armed conflicts have brought
death expulsion destruction and untold suffering to the people. The postwar efforts of the
West have failed to bring lasting stability and real progress so far. The Symposium at Basel
University was an interdisciplinary event where complex issues were elucidated by historians
geographers sociologists and political scientists. The event enabled East and West European
scholars and their American counterparts to exchange their somewhat divergent views. The
speakers covered a broad range of subjects: historical causes aspects of postwar economic and
social development as well as sociocultural consequences of the democratization process.
Special attention was devoted to the situation of minorities the refugee problem and the
security situation in the fragile states of the West Balkans and also to the responsibility of
the EU and USA for the general stagnation in the area. The Symposium was intended to illustrate
differing interpretations of the events of the past ten years and to encourage discussion
between speakers and participants at the event.
