Abstract
This paper will cover the book "Balkan Ghosts" by Robert Kaplan and will discuss the topic of Balkan history that it reveals in this story. The story is a travel guide of sorts to understanding the complex nature of Balkan politics in the region and to see how racial hatred has been accumulating over the years in this region.

Abstract
This paper describes the struggles faced by the modern nation of Albania, from it's burgeoning independence movement before World War I until today. The author's tone is sympathetic toward the challenges this small Balkan state has endured as it strives to establish its place among the world community. Various problems that Albania has had to face following World War I are highlighted, such as being under-developed in terms of health, education, and industry. Additionally the author discussed how Albania has risen to the challenge of improving it's infrastructure and how potential membership in NATO and the EU would also improve its economic stability. The paper concludes by stating that despite its considerable challenges, Albania is considered a helpful partner in the world community today, especially towards the major Western powers.

From the Paper
"Yet after the end of World War I, the nation of Albania struggled. Despite its will to be independent, it lacked many of the qualities needed to be a fully functional, modern player in the world community. "About 90 percent of the country's peasants practiced subsistence agriculture, using ancient methods and tools, such as wooden plows. Much of the country's richest farmland lay under water in malaria-infested coastal marshlands. Albania lacked a banking system, a railroad, a modern port, an efficient military, a university, or a modern press. The Albanians had Europe's highest birthrate and infant mortality rate, and life expectancy for men was about thirty-eight years ("Social and economic conditions after World War I," 2005, Library of Congress). It was easily conquered by Italy in 1939. After the end of World War II, independent communist partisans occupied the country, first allying with the USSR (until 1960), and then with China until 1978. The nation grew closely allied with Tito's Yugoslavia, another technically communist, but largely left-wing independent nation that managed to elude the direct control of Moscow or Beijing ("Albania," 2008, CIA Factbook)."

Tags:Balkan states, Ottoman-ization, Turkey, communism

Abstract
The paper outlines how "Balkan Ghosts" by Robert D. Kaplan details Kaplan's travels across the Balkans in the early 1990s and offers insight on the state of this area. The paper discusses Kaplan's writing career and posits that his accumulated knowledge and experience as a foreign correspondent gives him an edge in writing about the Balkans and the conflicts therein. The paper notes the controversies around the book, but asserts that despite the criticisms, Kaplan's account is engaging.

From the Paper
"Robert D. Kaplan is the author of over 10 books covering topics such as travel and issues on foreign affairs. His career as a journalist commenced with work at a small newspaper in the US. His work there was not challenging enough for him and he opted to venture out and write his own articles and books. This was the beginning of a freelance career that has seen him travel widely and gain firsthand information and experience about most of what he writes about. He is now an overseas correspondent with The Atlantic and his coverage is global. He has written books on Ethiopia and Afghanistan and the Balkans. His extensive travels have made him keen in trying to understand the basic history of his destinations. His has persistently visited places that are not the preferred destination of many of his profession and therefore has gained authentic information and can speak authoritatively about his subject."

Tags:Greece, Yugoslavia, Serbia, Bosnia, Romania, communism

Abstract
This research paper examines the relevance of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans to contemporary current conflicts and tensions in that region. Because of the nature and long duration of Ottoman rule in the Balkans, the Ottoman Empire left deep and longlasting effects on the nations which today make up the Balkan peninsula

From the Paper
"Ottoman Empire And Currebt Balkan Conflicts
This research paper examines the relevance of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans to contemporary current conflicts and tensions in that region. Because of the nature and long duration of Ottoman rule in the Balkans, the Ottoman Empire left deep and longlasting effects on the nations which today make up the Balkan peninsula. In some respects and especially during the first several centuries of Ottoman rule, its legacy was conducive to the maintenance of order, prosperity and ethnic and religious toleration. However, certain facets of Ottoman policy and practice, which intensified as its Empire declined and its hold over the Balkans weakened, also contributed to the stunting of the area's political, economic and intellectual growth, and the development and the exacerbation of deep-seated ethno-religious..."

Abstract
The paper relates that historians are in general agreement that World War I was caused by intensifying political and economic rivalries between the great powers of Europe at the beginning of the 20th Century. The paper explains that leading nations of Europe all sought to expand their empires, which led to arms races, entangling alliances, and increasing tensions. The paper decribes how by 1914, these factors combined to produce such instability that the crisis in the Balkans triggered by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary rapidly degenerated into a general European war characterized by unprecedented slaughter.

From the Paper
"Historians are in general agreement that World War I was caused by intensifying political and economic rivalries between the great powers of Europe at the beginning of the 20th Century. The leading nations of Europe all sought to expand their empires, which led to arms races, entangling alliances, and increasing tensions. By 1914 these factors combined to produce such instability that the crisis in the Balkans triggered by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary rapidly degenerated into a general European war..."

Tags:world, war, i

From the Paper
"KOSOVO CRISIS OF 1998-1999 AND ITS RAMIFICATIONS

This research paper traces the origins and course of the current dispute in Kosovo and discusses its potential for destabilizing further the Balkans, including the possibility of a wider war in the region, and ways in which tensions there might be heightened or reduced.

The roots of the conflict in Kosovo lie deeply embedded in the histories of the Albanian and Serbian peoples, especially during the occupation of the region by the Ottoman Empire, and tensions and conflicts between them, primarily of an ethno-religious nature, which intensified at periodic intervals during the late 19th and 20th centuries. Those tensions and conflicts have been greatly accentuated by the rise of Serbian ultranationalism after the collapse of communist Yugoslavia and ..."

Abstract
This paper examines the troubling trend of historic imperialism that is endemic to the Balkan Peninsula. The paper looks at current ethnic strife and terrorist activity, exploring them within the context of this imperialism.

From the Paper
"The Balkan Peninsula remains a hotbed of ethnic strife and terrorist activity. This is nothing new for the Balkans as centuries of imperialist aggression have rendered the region in a seemingly perpetual state of bloody disarray. Flanking the Adriatic Sea..."

Tags:Balkan peninsula, imperialism, ethnic strife, regional terrorism

Abstract
This paper takes a historical look at the nations of Poland and Bosnia-Herzegovina and compares and contrasts their societies and economic systems. The paper discusses both their similarities and their differences, examining their social and economic structure in both the post-communist era as well as the medieval era.

From the Paper
"The culture area or geographic region within which the human population shares similar culture traits, patterns of cultural ecology and a similar ways of life for Poland and Bosnia-Herzegovina have perhaps only one common political thread, post communism. Each society's cultural traits include many of the same desires felt in western countries that have material form, a recognized function, or an acknowledged value to their culturally related group. None of the foregoing functions independently; rather, each influences others in such universal cultural institutions as religion, political and economic systems, and those means by which a society attempts to maintain internal stability, defends itself against real or perceived threats, and sustains itself through the use of material environmental resources. Bosnia-Herzegovina is a society of two: Muslims and Croats. Their economy struggling out of the quagmire of civil war. Poland on the other hand, began its parliamentary democracy in 1989 pulling its economy, not from civil unrest, but near bankruptcy."

Tags:pluralism, political, force, balkan, yugoslavia, civil, war, serbia, montenegro, croatia, sarajevo

Abstract
This paper gives a brief historical account of the events that led up to WWI, the Civil Rights Movement in America, and the War on Terror and points out how each one contributed to outcomes that changed the world.

From the Paper
"In June of 1914, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the thrown of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was assassinated, along with his wife, by a Slavic assassin in the city of Sarajevo, with the help of Serbians. The Slavs and Serbs wanted independence for their people, and believed the assassination would start a chain of events that would end Austro-Hungarian rule of their peoples. This event was the pivotal event that led to World War I, one of the most devastating wars ever fought in modern times. In fact the assassination was a complicate plot. There were actually seven potential assassins. One threw a bomb, but it rolled off the car of the Archduke and destroyed the prince continued on to his destination, a reception, and then followed the same route back. Foolishly, the car carrying the prince was allowed to come to a stop, and he was shot."

Tags:balkans, divided, german, surrender, ethnic, strife, rosa, parks, alabama, martin, luther, king, september, 11, al-queda, terrorists

Abstract
This paper introduces, discusses, and analyzes Ekstein's part historical account, part personal memoir account of the Balkans and its troubled past. The paper describes how Ekstein is able to use his own personal experiences and his scholarly knowledge of the region to present an informative, insightful text. The paper also outlines the major periods in history that Ekstein covers in his book.

From the Paper
"The Balkans emerged in the last decade as a major hot spot in the world, and not for the first time. The Balkans were also the source of the tensions leading directly to World War I, and the only reason the region remained relatively stable after World War II was because of the force of the Communist leadership and the threat from the rest of the communist world if the region did not remain peaceful. With the breakup of the Soviet bloc after 1989, the tensions in the Balkans increased and produced bloody warfare between the different ethnic groups in the region, bloodshed which continues to this day. Modris Eksteins' account of the region during and after World War II in his book Walking Since Daybreak offers much about the region and much about the people, showing many of the tensions affecting this area and offering information that helps understand the problems facing the world because of those tensions."

Tags:baltics, russians, latvia, bolsheviks, clergy, germany, himmler, foreign, influences, battling, factions