The year 1991 marked a major turning point in the history of Yugoslavia, Europe, and the international order. The dissolution of the USSR marked the end of an era, ushering Europe and the world into a new age whose concrete form was impossible to predict. The far-reaching conflicts and tensions that erupted in the Yugoslav Wars that year proved to be fundamental challenges to the constitution of the formation of a Post-Cold War Order: nationality conflicts and “ethnic cleansing,” displacement and humanitarian emergencies, state collapse and military interventions. For contemporary actors, therefore, the Yugoslav Wars became a key experience with far-reaching implications on the reordering of Europe in terms of norms, institutions, and security policies.

This interdisciplinary collaborative project, funded by the Leibniz Association, is being led by Agnes Bresselau von Bressensdorf and conducted in partnership with the Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies (IOS) in Regensburg and the Chair for Southeast European History at the Humboldt University (HU) in Berlin. Four subprojects, handled by Lukas Daub (IfZ), Bennet Groen (IfZ), Kristof Gosztonyi (HU), and Stefan Sagberger (IOS), focus on Southeastern, Central Eastern, and Western European actors and their attempts to reconfigure the post-Yugoslav space and European political order.

Furthermore, independent research contributions by Christian Methfessel and Ingo Loose are an essential part of the project. Through its collaboration with over 20 partner institutions both within Germany and abroad, the project will actively contribute to the international networking of experts on Southeastern Europe and contemporary history.