Degree Type
Honors Capstone Project
Date of Submission
Spring 5-1-2006
Capstone Advisor
Alison Mountz
Honors Reader
John Hatcher
Capstone Major
Geography
Capstone College
Arts and Science
Audio/Visual Component
no
Capstone Prize Winner
no
Won Capstone Funding
no
Honors Categories
Social Sciences
Subject Categories
Geography | Human Geography | Other Geography
Abstract
2 Abstract This paper attempts to prove that the United States failed to fulfill its international legislative obligations – namely the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide – in the conflicts that occurred in the disintegrating state of Yugoslavia during the early 1990s. By doing this, the paper also attempts to discredit the idea promulgated by the first Bush administration that following the Gulf War and the end of the Cold War in 1991 there had emerged a “New World Order” which would combat the dark side of human nature and ensure that human rights and international law were observed internationally. The paper attempts to prove these conclusions, first, through an examination of the history of the rise of ethnic hatred in Serbia – then a republic of Yugoslavia – and how this hatred led to the breakup of Yugoslavia and the genocide of the non-Serb population, mainly Muslim, in the Yugoslavian republics of Croatia and Bosnia, mainly Bosnia. Second, the paper attempts to document the substantial amounts of public information about the genocide – available in the United States as the genocide was taking place – as well as public and private acknowledgments by the U.S. and other governments – made as the genocide occurred – that a genocide was in fact taking place in Bosnia. To accomplish this the paper uses accounts from books, and articles in magazines, journals, and newspapers written before, during, and after, the genocide took place. The thesis attempts to prove one overriding conclusion: Despite an abundant amount of information that genocide might take place, was taking place, and had taken place Bosnia, the U.S. and other governments did not act to prevent the genocide from occurring. This was especially startling as the deliberate inaction took place immediately following the end of the Cold War and the supposed creation of a New World Order, which President George H.W. Bush was then proclaiming as a global effort to support the “victory for the rule of law and for what is right”.
Recommended Citation
Robbie, David, "Bosnia and the Failure of the New World Order" (2006). Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All. 645.
https://surface.syr.edu/honors_capstone/645
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