The 1990’s wars in former Yugoslavia seem to have been well documented. Indeed, their breaking coincides with the information and communication revolution era. A huge amount of works in political science and international relations were devoted to the subject in the late 1990s and early 2000s. However, temporal distance and the declassification of archives now allow historians to reassess the conflict’s impact on world affairs and write a renewed history of the Yugoslav wars in the light of new documents. The return of war in Europe in 2022 also invites us to take a fresh look at the conflicts in Yugoslavia, to measure their long and short-term effects, and to think of them as a pivotal moment, a catalyst and generator of new norms, practices and representations.

1. How to renew our understanding of the Yugoslav Wars? The Yugoslav wars in broader contexts: end of the Cold War, global perspective, European perspective (the impact of this conflict on the process of European integration / European common foreign and security policy)? We will focus on extra-European views of the conflict or “small European countries” perspectives.
2. How to think the conflict differently, considering different points of view? (victims, war criminals, executioners)
3. To what extent is this conflict generating new norms/ representations, new practices (diplomatic or political)? How does it reveal new nodes of tension in the post Cold War world?
4. The Yugoslav wars as an incubator for innovations in international legislation. What is the impact of this conflict on the question of refugees? (their rights, protection from violence - especially violence against women and children?)

The conference will focus on new research directions and sources that enable us to renew our understanding of the conflict.