Divide and Fall?: Bosnia in the Annals of Partition

Radha Kumar examines the Dayton Accords process by which Bosnia was carved up into zones of ethnic control--Serbs here, Croats there, Muslims in pockets between. This partition, Kumar argues, follows a procedure that had been largely abandoned until 1974, when Cyprus was bisected into zones of Greek and Turkish control. Ethnic division, Kumar writes, follows a lesser-of-two-evils logic: it is better to separate people along nationalist lines, however sketchy, than to allow them to fight out their differences. But division, though convenient for peacekeepers eager to pull out and go home, in the end may not satisfy the combatants or introduce a real peace. Partitions, in her view, simply do not work: as evidence, she says, consider Palestine and the Indian subcontinent. Kumar's book will fuel much debate.